Forge's Fire
by Btralox
Summary: As far as death worlds to reincarnate into went the Elemental Nations weren't bad. Though I have a serious gripe with whoever it was that tired to convince me that a modern education would amount to much here. But hey, I have my family and friends, I'd get through, even without a bloodline limit. Rated M for occasional cursing and to be safe. (First Person SI)
1. Chapter 1

I don't recall the first first two years of my life at all.

Such a sentiment would usually be met by most with a raised eyebrow and a comment along the lines of "Well of course." After all, our brains are not quite developed enough at that age to truly make instances stick in long term memory, and even if one did remember those times it would mostly be blurry sights through underdeveloped eyes, moments of incontinence, and adult talking to you like you are a particularly stupid (though cute) animal.

However, it is notable with me when I say I don't remember the first two years of my life, because I remember an entire life from outside the Elemental Nations. I remember a life when I was a grown man and the stories of Naruto were a work of fiction.

I remember a life where I wasn't Ayasugi Daisuke.

My new life as Daisuke wasn't a bad one. I had a mother and a father who loved and raised me as well as a twin sister who seemed to want to spend every waking moment of her life making me do some form of activity with her or another. Though my life did get a bit more unusual from there.

I held a great amount of respect for my mother of this life. She was a beautiful woman, she had high cheek bones, good facial symmetry, and always kept her long black hair expertly styled (in fact she seemed to change her hairstyle at least once a week). She was kind to her children and fierce when she felt my sister or I weren't being treated fairly. She did much of the housework and made wonderful home cooked meals. And she did it while in a wheelchair. How she ended up in the wheelchair and how it inconvenienced her life was never talked about.

Whenever my sister or I would ask what happened she'd give us a stern look and tell us it happened because she didn't listen to her mother.

If we asked our father we'd get the same answer, though he seemed to say it with a slight bit of teasing and small smirk at the corner of his mouth.

I could be wrong though. My father was a very difficult man to read. He didn't seem prone to shows of emotion and almost always kept his face passive. I'd honestly think he didn't love his family if it weren't for the fact that his eyes always seemed to soften whenever he looked at one of us, that whenever he passed one of us by he'd gently place his hand on our shoulder before moving away, and whenever our mother was having trouble reaching for something from her wheelchair he'd seem to appear from nowhere and hand it off to her with a peck on the cheek.

I am part of a good family, better than most in the Elemental nations, and I love them greatly. I always felt truly safe with them. Like nothing could go wrong.

Until one day, when I was three, and I wouldn't feel safe for quite a while later.

The memories of my previous life came slowly and in bits and pieces that didn't seem to actually make much sense in connection with each other, which was really rather annoying. When I turned three I could quote, from memory, half of the Emperor's New Groove...in English.

As one might guess that isn't particularly helpful when you are in a country where no one speaks said language. It wasn't even particularly helpful even if people understood what I was saying.

Regardless, most of the information I was receiving wasn't particularly helpful.

That is until one day, when our father had taken my sister and I out of the house to give our mother a break, and I looked up to see four faces overlooking the village.

I had seen the faces many times in that life before, I had glanced at them and not thought them particularly special, they'd always been there.

But this time. I looked at them and I understood what they were. I knew their significance and who each face represented.

And a cold shiver wracked my body. For as long as I was in this world...I would never really be safe.

This was the Elemental Nations. This was Konoha. And I'd experience at least one war in my lifetime if I wasn't killed by someone else before then.

There was a clock on a countdown to a fight that would rock this entire world, and I had to try not be collateral damage.

-

I don't recall the first first two years of my life at all.

Such a sentiment would usually be met by most with a raised eyebrow and a comment along the lines of "Well of course." After all, our brains are not quite developed enough at that age to truly make instances stick in long term memory, and even if one did remember those times it would mostly be blurry sights through underdeveloped eyes, moments of incontinence, and adult talking to you like you are a particularly stupid (though cute) animal.

However, it is notable with me when I say I don't remember the first two years of my life, because I remember an entire life from outside the Elemental Nations. I remember a life when I was a grown man and the stories of Naruto were a work of fiction.

I remember a life where I wasn't Ayasugi Daisuke.

My new life as Daisuke wasn't a bad one. I had a mother and a father who loved and raised me as well as a twin sister who seemed to want to spend every waking moment of her life making me do some form of activity with her or another. Though my life did get a bit more unusual from there.

I held a great amount of respect for my mother of this life. She was a beautiful woman, she had high cheek bones, good facial symmetry, and always kept her long black hair expertly styled (in fact she seemed to change her hairstyle at least once a week). She was kind to her children and fierce when she felt my sister or I weren't being treated fairly. She did much of the housework and made wonderful home cooked meals. And she did it while in a wheelchair. How she ended up in the wheelchair and how it inconvenienced her life was never talked about.

Whenever my sister or I would ask what happened she'd give us a stern look and tell us it happened because she didn't listen to her mother.

If we asked our father we'd get the same answer, though he seemed to say it with a slight bit of teasing and small smirk at the corner of his mouth.

I could be wrong though. My father was a very difficult man to read. He didn't seem prone to shows of emotion and almost always kept his face passive. I'd honestly think he didn't love his family if it weren't for the fact that his eyes always seemed to soften whenever he looked at one of us, that whenever he passed one of us by he'd gently place his hand on our shoulder before moving away, and whenever our mother was having trouble reaching for something from her wheelchair he'd seem to appear from nowhere and hand it off to her with a peck on the cheek.

I am part of a good family, better than most in the Elemental nations, and I love them greatly. I always felt truly safe with them. Like nothing could go wrong.

Until one day, when I was three, and I wouldn't feel safe for quite a while later.

The memories of my previous life came slowly and in bits and pieces that didn't seem to actually make much sense in connection with each other, which was really rather annoying. When I turned three I could quote, from memory, half of the Emperor's New Groove...in English.

As one might guess that isn't particularly helpful when you are in a country where no one speaks said language. It wasn't even particularly helpful even if people understood what I was saying.

Regardless, most of the information I was receiving wasn't particularly helpful.

That is until one day, when our father had taken my sister and I out of the house to give our mother a break, and I looked up to see four faces overlooking the village.

I had seen the faces many times in that life before, I had glanced at them and not thought them particularly special, they'd always been there.

But this time. I looked at them and I understood what they were. I knew their significance and who each face represented.

And a cold shiver wracked my body. For as long as I was in this world...I would never really be safe.

This was the Elemental Nations. This was Konoha. And I'd experience at least one war in my lifetime if I wasn't killed by someone else before then.

There was a clock on a countdown to a fight that would rock this entire world, and I had to try not be collateral damage.

-

A day had passed since my little...incident on our grocery trip, and I can tell that something is up. My parents had a long conversation when we got home. My name was mentioned many times and I could FEEL them looking at me every few seconds. I generally tried to ignore them and instead "play" with some wooden blocks that I had gotten at some point in my life. Though really it wasn't playing and probably didn't look much like playing from the outside either.

The blocks were made of wood and carved into shapes from a cube to a pyramid to a arch and colored in various bright shades. Probably a staple childrens toy and similar ones could probably be found in almost every home in Konoha.

I had arranged the pieces in front of me by color and shape to organize a line and row system.

I was using them to organize my thoughts. Paper and pen weren't readily available to someone of my age for obvious reasons, so I took half the box and laid them out before me. Half because the rest of them were being used by Atsuko at the moment.

"Dai! Come on! Help me build the castle!" Atsuko said as she tugged on arm and tried to get me to come over to where she had been taking her blocks to build the biggest structure she could. It was already leaning over precariously and likely wouldn't last a few more blocks being placed on top unless she did something to add in support.

I pulled my arm away from her with a firm. "No."

Atsuko reached out again to grab hold of my arm and again started to pull me off towards her castle, until I twisted my arm out of her grasp and gave her a stern look and harsh "No!"

Atsuko opened her mouth, likely to tell me the way it was going to be when our mother's voice came. "Leave him alone Atsuko-chan."

"But he's not even doing anything!"

"Atsuko." Our father's voice cut in; his tone making it very clear that she was to stop immediately.

My twin scowled with a look of defiance on her face, but stomped over towards her little project. Said stomping resulting in her work collapsing.

"Noooo!" She cried before going over to rebuild it, leaving me momentarily forgotten.

I felt a bit bad about ignoring her, she really isn't use to it. I normally just do whatever it is she wants, though with less enthusiasm than she would probably like, so this was a bit of a new experience for her.

I'll have to do something later to make it up to her.

I look back at the various blocks before picking up a red pyramid, closely examining it.

It will represent Kurama. I placed it carefully on the ground. This was probably the most important thing to consider right now. Everything always tied into Kurama or Naruto, and truly those two were the most linked together, their fates intertwined no matter what. A blue block was placed below the red Pyramid.

Okay so when am I?

I pick up two yellow rectangular boxes and place them wide away from each other. The one on my left representing the fourth's inauguration, the right representing Sarutobi's death. The four faces means that's my timeline, I'm somewhere within there. Though...I've been aware of my surroundings for about a year...I think I'd notice something like the Sand/Sound invasion...so...I move the yellow box on my right further in and place a purple cylinder above it.

That...still leaves a good amount of time. Roughly...thirteen to fifteen years I'd guess.

Okay so major events to occur in that time frame? Clouds ill thought out attempt to kidnap Hinata. A white cylinder is place about three fourths of the way between the two yellow rectangles.

Importance of the event?

...minimal to my situation. Nothing I could do about it within the next few years anyways. Probably something I'll illogically blame myself over for a while but I have other things I need to worry about. Perhaps, if I meet her at some point, I could try and befriend and encourage Hinata at some point. I always felt that moment is probably what caused her to become so shy. That or her father treated her harshly because he blamed her for his brother's death.

Right. So befriend Hinata and motion her towards Naruto. Thats going to be set no matter what. If I'm old enough to actually do something when the event occurs I'll try to help out...best I can do right now.

Next would be the Uchiha massacre.

I pick up a red cylinder and place it just past the white one.

Very important. However...I'm even less likely to able to do anything about that. If I'm near Itachi in age I might be able to influence him a bit to get a different outcome but outside that I really can't do anything. Danzo is a better schemer than me and I certainly won't have the combat ability to get involved in that for years yet.

If the event is unavoidable...best action is...basically what I plan to do with Hinata. Befriend and push towards Naruto. Though...I suppose friendship isn't the only option with him. I could become some sort of rival or other such nonsense. An antagonist his age who can actually get to him might actually end up beneficial to him if applied close enough to the massacre.

I might have to go the second route.

I feel sorry for Sasuke but I never particularly liked him as a character. Though that might prove different as a real person.

Ultimately there was still nothing I could for a few more years.

Last event...Obito's attack via Kurama.

The thing most likely to get me and my family killed in the given time frame.

Again...nothing I can do to prevent it. When it arrives though...what to do...is there any way I can make sure everyone is safe?

A show of emotion.

If one of my parents seems to want to participate in something heroic...show emotion. A raging fit, a crying breakdown...and if those don't work collapse to the ground and stopping breathing to force them to instead focus on getting me to a doctor.

Best I could do.

Dealing with the even afterwards...brings me back to the blue block, Uzumaki Naruto.

Do I become his friend? It...might be a bad idea to break him from his loneliness, because it was that pain that turned him into the hero he became. It gave him the ability to relate with others pain and feel for them. It was Naruto's greatest strength and the reason he is able to change so many people's lives for the better.

Should I really stop that?

...

Yes. Past experience doesn't justify current behavior. Just because I read what happened in a manga in another life doesn't mean its going to play out that way here. Particularly since my existence is likely to be tossing out butterflies.

Plus having a friend like Naruto in your corner would be incredibly beneficial.

Okay. So befriend him if possible.

...if any of this is even valid. This could possibly be a world where Danzo has a heart of gold and the biju don't exist. I didn't know and couldn't know for a few more years.

Which brings me.

I look at a green arch.

What can I do about me?

I need to be strong enough to at least not be killed by random ninja mook B.

How do I go about that?

Well strength comes to three categories: body, mind, chakra.

Chakra was probably the most important, but I wasn't going to even TRY to touch that stuff until I had proper instruction. Anything that could cut thing on the cellular level, summon the embodiment of death, and bring the dead back to life is not something I want to go playing with blindly.

Mind was the next most important, in my opinion. Tactics and planning. I could do some basic practices by myself now but again it would work best if I had instruction. The best way to receive that...is if I focus on my ability to speak, read, and write. I need to meet or exceed my peers in this category.

I hate being uninformed more than anything else.

Last was body.

I could try practicing some of the forms I learned of chung do kwan, but that would probably net me some attention I don't want right now. Next best option, if I don't have an instructor, is...play. Be an active child and become fit that way.

Well...no time like the present.

I push my blocks to the side and calmly walk up to my twin. She turned to look at me in confusion and just started to open her mouth to say something before I poked a single finger to her head and let out a quite "Tag." Before turning and running away.

"Wha-? Hey! Get back here!"

I smirked as I ran out of the room, intent on getting an exercise out of this.

Who said preparing for the future can't be fun?  
-

Our game of tag didn't last long. After a few minutes our father came and found us running circles around the dinner table, Atsuko giggling madly. However I caught the look on our father's face and stopped, causing Atsuko to barely be able to keep herself from running me over but hitting me with her hand with a shout of "Tag!".

"Daisuke." His voice rang out as he motioned for me to follow him.

"Tou-chan! We were in the middle of playing!" Atsuko's whining voice complained.

"Go to your mother Atsuko. She needs you for something."

Atsuko crossed her arms with a scowl on her face before going off.

My father pressed his hand into my back to guide me through our house.

And it was actually a house. To my knowledge its actually pretty unusual that we don't just live in an apartment, but had a two story building with four rooms, enough of a yard that two three year-olds could run around in it, and then my father's workshop.

I'd never been entirely sure what it was that my father did for a living. What time he didn't spend with us he seemed to spend in his workshop, and my sister and I weren't allowed to go in there. Occasionally I'd see other people, that I now realize had been ninja, go in through the outside entrance to the shop. Also, whenever our father came out of the shop his clothes were always coated with sweat and much his exposed skin colored black by whatever it was he was doing. Though he never brought anything out of his work area and not even our mother ever went in.

Thus I was very surprised when my father guided me to the door leading to his workshop and opened the door. I looked up to him in question and he just gestured for me to go inside.

I cautiously stepped inside, looking around. In the center of the room sat what I recognized as a forge and an anvil. The far wall had a rack with an assortment of hammers of various sizes, as well as tongs and other equipment that I wasn't sure of the name for or their purpose. Up against the wall to my right seemed to be several container of coal, sand, and...I think some kinds of metal? I wasn't really sure. If it was metal it was in its raw and unpolished form. The rest of the workplace seemed to be filled with various weapons, though by far the most prominent were shuriken and kunai of various shapes and sizes.

My father was a blacksmith.

How the heck did I not ever hear the pounding on the anvil in the blacksmithing process?

Though it also explained my father a bit. He was a big man. And I don't mean height wise, since everyone looks big when you are two feet tall, but he was built wide like Jiraiya was in setting. That is to say he was wide and had arms like tree trunks.

Wait...my dad was a red-head...Uzumaki? It was a pretty vibrant red, though it was hard to tell because he only ever had stubble on top his head.

No. I've heard our last name and it isn't that...though maybe similar ancestry? Possible. And oddly enough his red hair managed to beat out our mother's black hair for Atsuko and me, though our hair is a pretty dark red.

"Daisuke, do you want to help me out in here from now on?" My father asked.

Oh.

I'm being groomed to learn my father's business. Understandable, and really it would help with physical fitness.

Though the question is does he want me to do this and not be a ninja? Because that...doesn't seem like a bad idea. I wouldn't mind it...I'd probably prefer it even. However if I do still end up being a ninja, well, this is excellent physical training.

I give my father a nod and a smile. I could do this.

"Good. Now let me show you what you are going to be doing."

I couldn't do this.

I now know why blacksmiths were usually considered the toughest guys in town back in the other world. I'm exhausted and we haven't even got to hammering yet.

My father had me shovel some coal into the furnace, then taught me how to arrange it so that it produced the most heat. It was tough for me at that point but I felt like I could keep up.

Then he took this clay cup looking thing and started to fill it up with some of the bits of metal shards and what appeared to be metal sand. Each time he picked some up from the box though he'd flash me a certain number of fingers for how many shards to pick up from each box and then just one handful for the metal sand.

I'm guessing that we're making some sort of alloy? That's why the different boxes. Though really they all looked pretty much the same to me, even as an ingot, iron looks way different from the other metals I was familiar with.

Then my father did something that made me practical drool at the mouth.

He brought his hands together through a few seals, going so fast I couldn't pick them up, and then brought a single finger up to his mouth and blew fire at the coals, setting them alight.

I stared dumbly at my dad, slackjawed. My father could breath fire...which means at some point I'd probably be taught to breath fire...oh yes, I am okay with this.

Dad let me have my moment as he took the clay cup and set it into the coals...with...his...bare...hands...

There was more staring as the man just pulled his hand out like he didn't just have his hand in a small inferno.

After I recovered from that Dad set me again to work. He wanted me to pump that...air thingy that pushes air into the furnace and heats up the coals.

That wasn't hard...for the first two minutes or so. A little while after that though I began breathing heavily as the heat from the furnace radiating out and began making the room almost stifling. Sweat began to soak my shirt though the exertion and heat, but every time I started to slow Dad would start to clap his hands to set a faster tempo for me.

I didn't even finish. It got to the point that I couldn't pump the thing any more, my muscles too tired, and Dad stepped in while I layed down on the ground panting.

It was around that time that a knock came at the the outside door before said door then opened a loud voice boomed "Hada-san!"

My father looked up from what he was doing, but didn't stop as he said, "Ah. Gai-san. Hello."

That made me immediately sit up and look over.

Sure enough there stood a green-spandex clad man with orange leg warmers and a jonin jacket. The bowl cut was also present. Looking at the man I gauged him to be in his early twenties.

Meaning we were past the Kyuubi attack.

I collapsed back on to the ground in relief, thankful I didn't have to endure the attack of the chakra rage monster.

Gai and Dad talked back and forth, about what I wasn't sure. They were using a bunch of words I didn't know yet and Gai seemed to talk pretty quickly.

Though I did hear Gai say "Sumi-san" at one point so I can be pretty sure they talked about my mother at some point.

Then I heard my name, which had Gai looking over at me before shouting something that I'm certain was to the effect of "The Spring Time of Youth!" before giving me his "Nice Guy Pose".

I gave him a small wave and said "Hello".

I vaguely expected him to get down over my underreaction, but he just went back to talking with my father. I guess a three year olds approval isn't as important to him.

Gai left shortly after that with a very excited farewell that mentioned both my name and Dad's.

It was then that my father called me over as he stood in front of the oven that was melting the metal. Then Dad went through several hand seals in a very slow and very precise way, so much slower than the last seals I saw him do that I had no doubt it was because he wanted me to see them.

The last one in the series was a tiger seal, which if I remember right is usually indicative of a fire move, followed by him just lowering his hands...with seemingly no effect.

That is until he reached into the oven and pulled out the cup of now liquid metal with his bare hands and poured it out into a mold for a long cylinder. Not sure why anyone would need a solid metal cylinder but okay.

Then my father proceeded to STICK HIS HANDS INSIDE THE MOLTEN METAL.

I actually stepped forward a bit and started to yell...but cut myself off as I saw my father...massage the molten metal like it was a damn batch of dough.

I stood there and stupidly watched him do that for the rest of the afternoon.

Dad and I didn't end up coming out of the workshop until it was starting to get dark and when we came inside it was to the wonderful smell of a stir-fry that my mother was no doubt making. The smell of it made my mouth water and it dawned on me just how hungry I was.

It was a bit odd. I had an appreciation for stir fry, and many other typical asian dishes, in this life, but I hadn't particularly cared for them in my previous one. I suppose different taste buds had something to do with it. That or my mother just made them better than anyone in my previous life.

I am personally inclined to believe the taste buds thing.

Dad and I walked into the kitchen to see my mother standing in-front of the stove on her one leg, mostly supported by a crutch under one of her arms while her other hand stirred the various vegetables in the pan.

With nary a word Dad came up beside her and gently nudged her out of the way to take over the task.

My mother glared at him for a moment before saying "I'm perfectly capable of cooking it myself."

"Yes, I known you are perfectly able to burn the food." Dad replied, "I'll handle this. You go check on Atsuko."

That was a lie. Mom had never once burned the food in as long as I can remember, but it was an exchange that occurred almost daily, and it would always get my mother to get back in her wheelchair and do something else.

I knew it was just my father's way of showing he loved her, and I'm pretty sure she knew it too.

Though...the fact that Atsuko wasn't in here was unusual. Normally she'd be buzzing around mom offering to "help".

Curious, I followed after mom to see what was going on, to find Atsuko sat the dinner table with a bunch of papers scattered in-front of her, several ink stains on her cheeks and a brush in her hands. Atsuko looked up to Mom enter the room and waved excitedly with her hand holding the brush, resulting a bit of wild ink spatter as she shouted "Mom! Come see! Come see!"

Mom rolled over and looked at the down at the papers on the table for a moment before taking on the high pitched voice that parents always took when congratulating small children and began telling Atsuko about how much she improved.

Was she drawing things? Just making a mess and being indulged?

I walked over to take a peek at the pages. I only managed to get a glance of the several sloppy and barely recognizable kaji before Atsuko suddenly swept the pages away and stuck her tongue out at me.

"No! This is for me. Mom said you aren't ready yet."

The lightbulb clicked.

I was being taught blacksmithing today. Atsuko was being taught how to do calligraphy.

I knew my mother did calligraphy, we were occasionally allowed in the spare room where she did the work, but only with supervision. She was passing this on to Atsuko like Dad was passing on Blacksmithing to me.

Also...caligraphy...did my mom make seals?

If so...on the one hand, that's really cool and the munchkin in me did a little happy dance at my access. On the other hand...making things like exploding tags and sealing scrolls in the same house that you raise children in doesn't sound like a particularly good idea.

Wow...my house might be filled with explosives as well as sharp pointy objects.

Not sure how safe that makes me feel, especially with Atsuko around.

"Don't worry Dai-chan." My mother's voice cut in, bringing me out of my musings, "You and I are going to be doing something else tonight after dinner, okay?"

Something else?

Not...quite sure what that would be but okay, don't think its anything I'd be particularly against.

"Good. Now lets get you two cleaned up before dinner is ready, okay?"

Aw crap.

I get that from their perspective I'm a little kid and it isn't that weird for my mother and sister to bathe with me.

In my perspective it was wrong on so many level I didn't even know where to begin. Thankfully I was way too young to experience any libido, but I was aware enough to feel the mind crushing guilt.

I pretty much spent all of every bath time gazing at my feet or keeping my eyes closed.

I did not need memories haunting me later on in life.

And I'm not going to bother running because...yep there it is. Mom picked me up and put me in her lap. She knows I'm not fond of bath time and thinks it because of some other toddler boy thing or whatever. I didn't particularly care.

There were many times I DID run...but having a one legged lady in a wheelchair have to chase after you is not a good feeling.

I heave a sigh and close my eyes. Lets get it over with.

After that ordeal that I decided to pretend didn't happen we were all sat down at the dinner table and enjoyed our meals. One of the few things I had an advantage on Atsuko over was here. I could reliably use chopsticks with a...mostly negligible mess. I wouldn't say I'm proficient with them, but for a three year-old I wasn't bad.

After dinner though my mother again picked me up and put me in her lap.

Now, I'm fine with physical affection and all, but I'm really looking forward to the point that this didn't happen so often.

I don't like being manhandled.

She wheeled the two of us into my room and sat me on the floor.

"Now, Dai-chan, I've got a surprise for you!" She said...or at least I think...not sure if that word meant surprise or gift.

Either way it resulted in Mom pulling a thin box about two hand-lengths wide out of...somewhere...not sure where. She proceeded to open said box and pull out a bunch of note card things.

"Its to help you learn words!"

THAT got my attention.

Communication is really what I need more than anything else right now. So heck yea, bring on the flashcards.

Some of my excitement must have registered on my face because Mom grew a big smile on her face and seemed to breath a sigh of relief.

She held up a card. On it was a picture of a tree and a kaji under it.

"Tree." She said tapping the picture before repeating it once more. "Now you say it Dai-chan."

"Tree." I replied. I had already knew that one, and I knew she knew that, but I'm guessing this is one of those moments of getting me use to the premise of the idea.

She took out another flashcard with a brightly colored koi on it. "Fish"

And so my night went.

It was a pretty demeaning task but...I needed this. It hurt my pride but I've always held pride dosen't do you any good, especially if it prevents you from doing something that would be beneficial.


	2. Chapter 2

It's a really good thing this world doesn't have the internet or video games, otherwise I'd not have made near the progress I have in the last few months.

Boredom is usually a good way to make me actually work on something.

I feel like I'd come a long ways. I could actually string together a few sentences and could understand basically everything people were saying now. Which made me realize my parents think I have some sort of mental abnormality...which...isn't exactly wrong but I'm pretty sure they weren't guessing it was because their son has the memories of a twenty-four year old jammed into his head.

Hopefully they'd never find that out. That would make some thing pretty awkward.

I'd also managed to become physically stronger; I could actually mostly keep up with what Dad was asking me to do now. Though it was still the tasks I had started with on the first day. I don't expect to be given a hammer or be taught to breath fire anytime soon. As my language started to get better Dad started to explain the process of what he was doing more and more. For the most part I was doing a pretty good job of understanding what he was telling me too, the only parts I slipped up was when he started to use the word "chakra" then he pretty much lost me. I'm guessing its something I'm going to have to get around to after I learn how to harness my chakra.

I also found out that I'm apparently going to the Academy eventually. At least that's what I'm guessing, because when I asked when I'd learn how to use my chakra I was told "At the Academy."

Which caught me by surprise. I had expected to be raised to be a blacksmith but Mom just gave a reply to that with "Everyone goes to the Academy."

So there goes lots of fan theories and fanfictions.

Well...maybe not. It's possible this isn't the world Kishimoto translated into manga.

Atsuko was also growing, though not as quickly. Her kanji were getting better, but they still looked like a child did them. Sometimes Atsuko would also spend time helping dad out in the workshop, but she always hated it and did whatever she could to get out of it.

My parents didn't try very hard to make her do it either.

I guess they figured only one of their kids had to learn the blacksmithing stuff.

So after the several months of our parents preparing us for our future we found ourselves in October. Today in particular was a rather...odd day. Mom was bustling through the house, cleaning to a level she didn't usually bother with, and she had a certain...stressed air around her. One I recognized from my previous life.

We were going to be getting a guest tonight.

A grandparent?

Possible...but unlikely. A grandparent would have been more active in our lives.

A friend?

More likely...but my parents didn't exactly get out and socialize a whole lot.

A client?

That...sounds right. Dad didn't have a shop, so he sold his wares to shops and they in turn sold the product. A few customers did come directly to him if they wanted to special order something or for him to do some maintenance on something.

Yeah. Probably some sort of business relationship.

As if my thoughts summoned it a knock came at the door. Mom takes a deep, calming breath before she wheels herself over to the front door. I keep my spot in the living room.

People don't usually appreciate kids rushing them as they come into a house.

So yeah, not going to run to the door.

"Hello...Jiraiya-sensei."

I trip over myself as I make a dash for the door but mostly manage to stay up.

Spiky white hair? Check.

Colorful and exaggerated outfit? Check.

Geta? Check.

Red cheek tattoos? Check.

Lecherous personality?

"Sumi-chan! You've grown so big! And in all the right places! Motherhood's been good to you!"

...check.

How is she possibly his student?

Wait...he had a gennin team didn't he? Minato, that dark skinned guy, and...oh.

So thats who my mom is.

So...Mom was a ninja...which means her leg was probably lost in the line of duty.

I'm...not sure what to do with that.

"Ah! This must be Daisuke! I see he is stunned by the majesty of the great Jiraiya-sama!"

Oh. Right. Staring at him like an idiot.

Eh...Jiraiya could do with an slight ego deflating.

"Ka-chan, who's this dumb looking guy?"

Jiraiya let out this delightful squawking sound as Mom turned around with a cry of "Dai-chan!". But it was in one of those tones of voice where a parent is trying to get on to a child, but what they really want to do is just laugh.

I gave my best innocent smile as I asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

Jiraiya had another moment of blustering before breaking out into a boisterous laugh. "Yeah. He's Hada's kid alright!"

The comparison made me smile.

Dinner was an incredibly awkward affair.

"So...what have you been up to lately Sensei?" Mom asked.

Jiraiya perked up, "Oh! I just finished writing a book! Its about...uh..." He glanced at me then Atsuko, "...stuff."

"How interesting." My father droned before placing some rice into his mouth.

You know those comfortable moments with a family where everyone could sit at the table and not say anything and be perfectly okay with it?

This was not one of those moments.

I even did the awkward cough thing just to fill the silence.

"So, Hada-san. How is work?" Jiraiya asked.

"Good. I got a contract with a shop a few months ago. Work's been pretty steady since then."

"Oh...that's...good."

You know the sounds of people eating rice, when you really listen, are very different from pretty much every other food. It has a pretty distinctive sound when-

"Why do you have those lines on your face? Did you get cut?" Atsuko asked.

Oh thank goodness.

Plus that was something I had wondered about.

"These?" He said pointing toward the red lines tattooed on his face. "Nope! These are clan tattoos! Besides, noone could manage to cut the great Jiraiya-sama!"

Wow. He even got up and put a foot on his chair to do a pose. Props to him for commitment.

"You're part of a clan?" Atsuko asked with large curious eyes.

Jiraiya's face got a rather sad look on his face as he replied with, "...no. No I'm not."

...ouch.

That means either his family was killed, or he got them to be clan tattoos for his family...which he never ended up having.

"Then how are they clan tattoos?"

Mom and Dad gave a grimace.

"What? I just wanna-"

"Atsuko." I cut in. She looked over to me and began to complain again but closed my eyes and gave a slow I appeared sufficiently serious to get her not to say more.

Oh look, we're driving through awkward town in the awkward-mobile again.

"Welp! Thanks for the hospitality Sumi-chan, Hada-san, but I should be going. You know, countries to save, princesses to rescue." Jiraiya said as he stood up, probably having decided that was enough of that.

"I'll see you to the door Sensei." Mom said as she wheeled over to him.

I let the two of them go to the door alone where they had a quiet conversation, before Mom came back to clean up the table, the family dispersing to do their own thing.

I came across mom staring out the window later that night. Her gaze vacant as she looked out, and her lips slightly turned down.

I placed a hand on her arm. "Mom...are you sad that the dinner didn't go well?"

She opened her mouth to say something...but seemed to change her mind and instead said, "Yes, Dai-chan. I am."

That had to hurt. A jonin sensei was a major part of growing up to a ninja. Like part of the family, if not even a parent. To not even be able to have a dinner with someone who was once so close must be...heartwrenching.

"I'm sorry." I say.

"Its okay Dai-chan. That's just life. People change and their paths may split from each other. But it doesn't mean the bond between them has disappeared."

She turned to look at me, both her hand coming to grasp my own as her eyes filled with a feeling I couldn't quite identify it was...

"I know that if I ever really needed him he'd show up, and I'd do the same for him. We don't need to be in eachother's lives. We are still very important to each other. That doesn't just go away."

Melancholy.

She radiated the feeling of melancholy.

Today was the day.

Today my sister and I would have a first day at the academy. A part of me realized that this was just a place to train me to become a child soldier but most of me was just excited to get out of the house and learn how I can get superpowers. I don't care who you are, if you aren't at least a little bit excited about the prospect of learning to harvest an energy source that lets you ignore the laws of physics.

Though my excitement paled in comparison to Atsuko's and, surprisingly, Mom's.

Atsuko had woken me this morning by excitedly jumping onto my be shouting that I should hurry up and get ready for school. She then informed me that I was to wear the black shirt and green jacket today and that I should double check that I had all my school supplies in my bag.

As the years passed the fact that she was born thirty minutes before me began to matter more and more, or at least it did to Atsuko.

I gave her a simple grunt before getting out of bed and doing as I was told. I didn't care for being bossed around but her advice was sound. Plus I did like the black shirt, and the green jacket was something I was fond of as well. It had spacious outside pockets as well as several on the inside of the jacket too.

...I've always valued jackets on their storage capacity...I'm not sure why. Though I imagine as a ninja I'll actually have an excuse for it.

Mom was also a frenzy of activity too this morning. To the point my father wasn't even trying to help and instead just sitting at the table calmly drinking a cup of coffee as Atsuko and I sat down for breakfast.

"I made some miso soup! It will give you lots of energy today and help you focus in class." My mother said as she placed the bowls and some chopsticks in front of us.

"Ka-chan." I said.

"Is there anything you want in your lunches?"

"Ka-chan." I repeated.

"Besides sweets Dai-chan. That will make you too hyper later in class."

I resent that. I don't get hyper...usually.

Though she was entirely missing the point.

"Haha-ue!" I said a bit louder. It was a very formal and, in current days, unusual way to say mother.

It always got her attention.

"What is it?" She finally asked.

"These bowls are empty."

There was a moment of complete silence before my mother just decided she didn't want to give a response and just got new bowls, this time filled with miso, and placed them at the table.

Dad's newspaper was conspicuously raised higher to hide his face while what we could see of his shoulders showed them shaking.

"Hada. You can shut up." Mom informed him.

"Yes dear." Came the voice of a man holding back laughter.

I too cracked a smile as I began to eat...which was right about the time Atsuko slammed her bowl on the table, having chugged the whole thing, noodles and all.

Not sure how she didn't choke.

"Daisuke! It's time to go!" My father's voice called from downstairs.

I took one last look in the mirror and looked myself over. Sometime over the years the image began to actually look like me. I didn't really think of "me" as the man I once was. I was Daisuke now, the memories I had were from I guy I used to know. Only the age was the thing that threw me off anymore.

I still had the chubby cheeks a six year-old like myself is meant to have, though you could just barely see some muscle tone in my arms, which was right impressive for someone who hasn't gone through puberty yet...er again. All that exercise in Dad's workshop was doing the trick.

I'd actually gotten to the point where I was allowed to hammer things, though Dad always had to go over my work again and fix mistakes.

My hair had been recently cut, under Mom's insistence, she said my hair was starting to look sloppy. Though I have to admit it does look better. My dark red hair was now about an inch long on top and faded short on the way down. It was easy to style and was short enough that if someone tried to grab me by the hair they'd have a tough time of it.

The same day I got the cut was also when mom had taken me out to get my current outfit. The green jacket was a bit big on me but I'd grow into soon enough, plus I kept it unzipped so it made it harder to tell. Currently I had several pencils stored in various pockets of the jacket, as well as several rubber bands and a few folded sheets of paper. Not exactly an impressive checklist for a future ninja but I think it would work for first day of school.

The plain black t-shirt fit me well, though it was a bit tight for my comfort. I always liked my clothing to hang loose. Especially now that I'm growing so fast that I won't fit in this shirt in six months.

The green cargo pants I wore were thankfully also down to my ankles. Mom had wanted to get shorts but I had steadfastly refused.

I just hate the way shorts look on a guy. Not appealing.

The last thing to go with my ensemble was one of those school bags that has a single strap that goes over your shoulder, like a laptop case. It was sensibly colored black so I didn't have my sister telling me it didn't match my outfit.

All it held was some paper and a few school books.

Apparently we aren't suppose to bring even wooden kunai and shuriken to school yet.

I'm rather hoping we need them at some point in the school year but won't be overly surprised if they aren't included in the first year.

To my understand the first year is mostly book learning and lessons on how to access your chakra.

"Daisuke! You have to the count of five to get down here!" My mother called, spurring me to run to the door, taking the stairs three at a time.

One thing that never changes. When your parent starts counting down you book it or deal with severe consequences.

I reached the door to find everyone else waiting on me. Mom and Dad were both dressed in semi formal kimonos, apparently it was some sort of tradition for the first day of school.

Dad wore black and red while mom wore one that was white, green, and blue and for once kept her hair in a simple braid down her back.

Strange. I figured they'd want to match each other.

"Dai! You were going to make us late!" Atsuko lectured. Her own outfit consisting of a light blue sundress with a thin white jacket covering her arms and shoulders and only going part way down her back. Her hair was done up in a bun on-top of her head. I also knew for a fact she had on some bicycle shorts under the dress.

Mom had been very clear that a dress was never to be worn without bickle shorts on underneath.

Which makes sense when you consider ninja's jump over rooftops where anyone can just look up.

Atsuko finished her outfit with a shoulder bag much like my own, but hers was tan and had a floral print.

"You two have everything?" Mom asked looking us over one last time.

We gave a nod of acknowledgement, though I'm certain she would ask the question again before we finally parted ways.

"Alright! Lets go!" Mom chirped as we began to head out the door.

First day of school was always nerve wracking.

Especially when its one that will be teaching me how to more efficiently murder someone sometime in the future.

The first day of the Academy is apparently a bigger deal than I thought.

I had figured that the parents would just drop their kids off at the gate and perhaps mingle with each other a bit before leaving. However I was apparently very wrong. All the first year students and their parents gathered in an assembly room in the academy. The room was pretty spacious, easily fitting everyone in it.

It actually vaguely reminded me of the basketball gyms that most schools had, except with actual chairs and the ceiling wasn't near as high.

With this many people in the room I honestly expected us to largely go unnoticed.

Many people in the crowd kept glancing over at us, or more specifically, my mother.

Some would look over with sad eyes and then turn back to their conversation, likely tutting about how sad it is to see a wounded veteran. I could always tell Mom hated that; people just defining her by her missing leg.

However they weren't near as bad as those other people. The ones that would see her once and then do their level best to not look in her direction again. They didn't want to look over and see the results of this bloody culture. They didn't want to see what could happen to them, or their children.

So they ignored it and did their level best to even keep it out of their sights.

I often wonder how many of the people that ignore her use to fight beside her.

I wonder if any of the people I recognize are ignoring her? Shouldn't be hard to pick out the clan kids.

"Sumi! You finally got Hada to let you out and about!" A gruff female voice shouted, causing me to look over to where the disruption was coming from.

The woman in question stood out quite a bit from the crowd; while most here were dressed formally she seems to have decided that a button up shirt, some jeans, and her jonin jacket were good enough. The woman had wild hair and wild eyes while her cheeks were decorated with a tattoo of a large upside down red triangle. The only bit of makeup on here was some purple lipstick.

Strange. I wonder why she bothered with doing just that?

Regardless. I'm pretty sure I knew who this was. Especially if there's a...yep.

A large dog with an eyepatch trotted over carrying what I believe is a six-year-old Inuzuka Kiba on his back.

I glanced back up to my parents and saw both of them smiling.

Well Mom was smiling. Dad just did that thing where he looks at someone and has his eyes soften a bit. Thats really the only cue I get that Dad is friends with someone.

"Tsume. It's good to see you. It's been a while." Mom said before looking over to the dog, "And you too Kuromaru."

"Sumi, Hada." The dog said with a small nod.

Riiiiiigh. This one could talk...that was really freaking weird.

"Your dog just talked!" Atsuko shouted with a finger extended pointing at the large canine, her face looking about as surprised as faces can look.

The dog sat down, causing the young Kiba to slide off.

"Its rude to point." The pooch informed my sister.

Atsuko gapped at him for a moment before turning to look to me for support.

"He's right. It is rude to point." I said.

Tsume and Mom gave a laugh at my words; Tsume's laugh quite a bit louder and more boisterous. Kuromaru gave this little huff thing that I'm guessing was dog laugh...or a sigh of annoyance.

"Of course Kuromaru can talk!" Kiba said as he looked at my sister. "Don't be stupid."

"I'm not stupid! You're stupid!"

"Nah uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

Oh lord, it's just dawned on me that I'm going to be spending most of my time with six-year-olds for a while.

Kiba again opened his mouth, no doubt to give another 'Nah uh' when Tsume lightly slapped the back of her offsprings head, causing Atsuko to look immensely pleased.

"Shut it brat, you're causing a scene." Tsume said.

I stared at her with a raised eyebrow for a moment before presenting my hand to Kiba.

"I'm Ayasugi Daisuke."

He gave me an animalistic grin of his own before clasping my hand. "Inuzuka Kiba! I'm going to be the top dog here so let me know if you need help with anything!"

Wow, he's an arrogant little shit isn't he?

"Is that so? Well I'll be sure to remember that Top-Dog-san."

Tsume gave a very unlady like snort before saying "Good job Sumi. You're brats have spunk."

"We're so glad to have your approval." Dad said.

Tsume again opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a chunin calling out, "If everyone could please take their seats!"

"I guess it can wait until later." Tsume said as she turned to walk away, "Come on you two!"

Atsuko pointed two fingers at her eyes then pointed them at Kiba in a 'I'm watching you' gesture. Kiba maturely gave a raspberry in response before running off.

As everyone began to take their seats I found myself looking around for blue eyes and spiky blond hair, a major part of me cursion what Naruto will look like in person.

I never did catch sight of him before the Hokage walked up onto the stage.

It was my first time ever laying eyes on the Third in person and...its rather underwhelming. He was short and old. I expected him to exude some sort of...presence or something, but the only thing I got was that the air felt more stuffy an official as all the ninja in the room subconsciously sat up straighter.

My mother included.

"Welcome, parents and thank you for bringing with you today the future of Konoha." The Third began. "To you I swear on my title that our charges will receive the best education we can give them. To you I swear on my fortune that not one student will be tempted to betray the ideals and hierarchy of their clan. And on my life I swear to make sure your children, your most precious treasure, are safe and protected while within these walls."

Wow. Going from the way he said that...I'm guessing that bit of the speech has been repeated almost every year since the Academy opened.

"To the students. Today you start a journey that will define your lives. We will equip you with the tools you need to succeed in anything you wish to do in life, be that as a ninja of Konoha or not."

Wow. Actually acknowledging that some of us won't be ninja.

Though that isn't surprising. There's probably about one-hundred kids in the room and I don't expect that many to graduate. Though I'm also pretty sure more than nine students will get jonin.

Note to self, find out what happens to the people that don't get jonin sensei.

Speaking of which, clearly we are all going to be split up into different classrooms. They can't possibly expect to fit this many kids in one room and actually get anything done.

I cast my gaze around, trying to see if I can notice people I would recognize.

Lets see...there's the Inuzuka.

Kiba, Tsume, Hana, and...I'm guessing that's Kiba's dad?

Huh. He's still around right now. Its hard to tell what he looks like right now since I can only see the back of his head though.

Hm...oh...bunch of people in heavy coats.

Found the Aburame. I'm not even going to bother guessing who's who. Though its reasonable that the little one is Shino.

And then there's...Uchiha.

All four of them are here. Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, and...Sasuke.

Still not sure how to treat Sasuke...but I'll have to figure something out soon.

I tear my gaze away to see...Is that Hinata?

...yeah I think it is. But she's sitting all by herself except for some woman with long dark hair.

Her dad didn't even show up for the first day?

Thats...harsh.

Still no sight of Naruto. Though that could easily be because of an alarm clock not going off or forgetting what date it was...or just not wanting to see a bunch of children with their parents.

Wow. Thats depressing.

Oh, look! InoShikaCho with their kids and wives.

Its my first time seeing Chouji's mom. And then theres...what was that.

I look closer because I could have sworn that it looked like...no.

Ino's mom turns a bit in her seat letting me catch a glimpse of her very obviously pregnant belly.

...what?

Ino's mom, whom I didn't know the name of, was pregnant. That presents a question, namely: Is this a result of me sending out butterflies or did this also happen in Kishimoto's version and there was a miscarriage?

Well I suppose it's possible that the baby was even born and Ino had a sibling that we never saw because they weren't important.

Still, this could be the first evidence of the changes my just existing has caused.

I mean...I knew stuff like this would happen, intellectually, but seeing it? Wow.

"Now if you would all rise." The Thirds voice sounded, apparently having complete his speech as all of the kids in the room rose to stand while the parents remained seated.

"Do you solemnly swear to remain loyal to Konoha and not use any of the skills and knowledge you will obtain here to harm Konoha or enable her enemies?"

All of us gave a chorus of "We swear!"

"Then hold your heads high and proceed to the hallway. Welcome to the Academy."

The students slowly milled out while the parents mostly remained seated. A few parents giving hugs and tearful well wishes. Mom simply settled for wishing us luck while Dad ruffled my hair and put placed a hand on Atsuko's shoulder as he said "If anyone gives you trouble, give them hell."

With that Atsuko and I followed the throng of children into the hallway where four chunin with clipboards stood at the ready.

I honestly didn't recognize any of them except one.

At the end of the line on the right stood a young man with relatively dark skin complexion, a scar across his nose, and his hair done up in a pony-tail.

Umino Iruka looked exactly how I thought he would.

"Alright listen up! We're going to be calling your name and then a room number! That room with be your classroom for at least the next three years!"

Wait what?

Three years?

I didn't expect that. I figured it would be a different class and teacher every year or one all the way through. Why would we change in three years? Maybe its suppose to be like a move from middle school to high school?

"Now, top of the list! Aburame Sh-"

What the man was going to say was cut off as the hallway's door banged against the wall revealing a disheveled blond boy in a black shirt with Konoha's symbol on it.

"A hero always arrives at the last minute!" the boy shouted.

Well never say Uzumaki Naruto doesn't know how to make an entrance.

I wonder if he specifically planned to show up at this time? Going by his red face and slight panting I'd guess not though.

"Uzumaki! Just get in line!" The chunin on the far left yelled before turning away from the boy.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the man before joining the rest of us.

"Now Aburame Shino. Class A-2!" And so the list went.

I sat in my new classroom feeling a bit lost.

I mean, I knew Atsuko and I might not get Iruka and his class, I was okay with that, but I also didn't expect to see one of the people I KNOW was in Iruka's class later to be in here.

Aburame Shino was with Atsuko and I in class A-2 under Funeno Daikoku.

Daikoku was a man that was a bit on the large side, and I don't mean in muscle or height, with a goatee and...stereotypical chunin cloths.

If we ever got attacked I'd probably think he would be the red-shirt.

The classroom looked pretty much exactly like the one I remember from the manga with twelve large desks lined up three wide four long and three chairs at each desk. When I walked in I took the aisle seat of the second desk of the left column. Generally you don't want to be on the first row, as thats easier for the teacher to see you but you also don't want to be at the back because that says you don't care. Middle area is the safest bet.

I don't know if Atsuko agreed with me on that or if she just didn't want to separate from the only person she knew, but she took the spot to my left. Shino took the spot behind me, which...I think I liked. He was the closest I have right now to a friend outside Atsuko...despite never really having had a conversation with him.

...okay so not friend. Just someone I knew a tiny bit about.

Then there was Daikoku-sensei. I vaguely feel as if I saw him somewhere in the manga, but I'm not sure where. Either way he didn't leave an impression then and he wasn't doing a lot to make me like him now. He currently had us coming up to the front one-by-one and saying who we are, our likes and dislikes, and our dream for the future.

Which was disappointing for several reasons.

For one it means Kakashi apparently has zero creativity because this is probably a very common practice when first getting a group to cooperate, (probably mostly aimed towards children), and I hated the very premise of doing that with an entire class of students. I'm already trying to remember names and faces, trying to shove every single one of them in front of me on the first day really isn't going to help me at all.

Plus its hard for me to come up with a dream for my future. I'd mostly been coasting at this point but...I'm not sure what I want.

At this point I was so focused on that I wasn't really paying attention to the students going up to the front of the class.

Though I did at least glance up to make sure it wasn't Atsuko's, Shino's, or my name that was called.

"Aburame Shino." The teacher called, causing the boy behind me to rise and walk to the front of the class. His form mostly hidden by his large jacket and his expression blocked by the large collar and sunglasses he wore.

"I am Aburame Shino." He began as he adjusted his glasses, "I like collecting bugs and winter melon. I dislike selfish people and strong-smelling foods. My dream for the future is to one day become a jonin."

Shino didn't wait to be told to go back to his seat and merely started to march back to his place.

That wasn't...particularly interesting. It was a pretty typical dream and the collecting bugs this was sort of a 'well duh'. Though the winter melon bit is something I'll have to remember. Nothing helps form a friendship faster than food.

"Ayasugi Atsuko." The sensei called startling me from my thoughts.

I hadn't even noticed them call the guy before her. Whoops.

Atsuko stood up and walked down to the front of the class and flashed a big smile.

"Hi! I'm Ayasugi Atsuko! I like my family and calligraphy! I dislike working in my dad's workshop and people who point and stare. My dream for the future is that I'm going to be an awesome kunoichi and protect my little brother!" She said before starting to walk away, but then stepped back in her spot to shout, "Oh! And if any of you are mean to Dai-chan," She took a moment to smack her fist into her palm, "I'll beat you up!"

I head-desked at the resulting laughter.

She now just guaranteed that people will make fun of me. Great.

"Ayasugi Daisuke."

I heave a sigh and walk past my sister on her way back up. She gave me a smile and a thumbs up as she walked past, as though she just did me a great favor.

I should really work with her on her social intelligence.

I turned around to look at the class, all their gazes on me...and a few laughing and muttering about needing my sister to protect me.

"I'm Ayasugi Daisuke. I like sweets, mental exercises, and helping my dad in his shop." That part was easy. I always had a sweet tooth, I really enjoy mental exercises (particularly hypotheticals), and as I finally started to do things in Dad's shop I found I really liked helping him out. Disklike is also easy. "I dislike hatred, prejudice, and cauliflower."

"My dream is..." I trail off, not sure what it is that I wanted.

I mean I knew I wanted to try and keep my family safe, but everyone dies eventually. Thats not enough to base my existence on. I liked helping my dad out in the forge as well but to just make that all I do seems shallow. Plus I'm in a world where people can really become legends, where having power isn't just a matter of becoming a billionaire or politician. What I really wanted was...

"My dream is to do something that will change the world."

I could feel the surprise in the room as I walked back to my desk.

Thats it then.

I'm going to change the world.

I just had to get through school first. I could do that.

I can't do this.

I sat staring at the clock, pleading internally for time to go by faster.

I didn't think I'd be this desperate for time to pass until well into the school year, not on the very first day.

This is the ninja academy. They'll be teaching me how to best gut a man and how to treat the laws of physics like an unloved stepchild.

It was suppose to be fun, or at least interesting. They could even have covered things like history, I'd love to know the past of this world, how biased the history books are, and maybe a bit about the pasts of the other hidden villages. Or economy, finding out how the market worked here would have been nice. Or literature! An entire world of stories I didn't yet know!

But no. Instead we got math.

Now I don't hate math. I'm pretty good at it. I'd completed college calculus online in my last life.

And that was the problem.

"So just like two plus two equals four, one plus three can equal it as- Daisuke! Stop baning your head against the desk! It's disrupting class!"

Finally, after math was over, we were released for a lunch period.

As we were released I reached into my bag and pulled out the bento Mom had made for me before I stood up to go find someone to have lunch with.

I could have lunch with Shino or maybe try someone I knew nothing about...or even look for members of another class.

Hm...path of least resistance is Shino. I can always do the other things later.

"Dai." Atsuko says, stopping me from walking away. "You...aren't going to have lunch with me?"

Oh. She's nervous about mingling with our classmates.

I heave a sigh as I sit back down next to her.

"You know...you could go have lunch with some of the other girls. Make friends." I said.

"And leave you by yourself?" Atsuko said with a scoff and a light blush on her face.

I heave a sigh, "How about this. Since I don't want to keep you from making friends, we'll eat together today, but tomorrow I'll just have to deal with it so you can go off and make friends. Okay?"

"O-okay!" Atsuko agreed, "I can't be holding your hand all the time, right?"

"Mhm." I responded as I began to open my bento.

Bit of a delay in plans, but it's only the first day of school.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully and I actually did start to learn some things. Geography was helpful, history gave me actual dates so I had a better idea of timeline, and we learned a few of the hand signs. Though without a doubt the thing I found most interesting was the class on chakra. Today's lesson was mostly "This is what chakra is" mixed with "These are the dangers of using it" but I honestly found it to be riveting.

I really don't understand the kids in the class that looked bored about the subject.

Near the end of the day we had what was basically physical fitness. They had us running, doing sit-ups, and doing push-ups, the instructor having us do each exercise for a set period of time.

Largely I did okay, but not as well as I thought I would. I mean, I pretty much dominated in push-ups, and I ranked pretty high in sit-ups, but I was only in the middle for running.

I apparently I've forgotten rule number one. Cardio.

Atsuko did pretty well herself, though stayed in about the seventy fifth percentile for all three.

After that we were let go for the day with the promise that tomorrow we would be shown the basics of how to throw a punch and how to properly give a forward kick.

"Alright! Good job everyone, you're all free to go!" Our sensei called out causing several of the students to collapse in relief, apparently not used to this kind of exertion.

Now that it was time to go I realized something.

It was the first day of school, Mom was probably going to be here very shortly to pick us up, if she wasn't here already.

"Atsuko." I said, "You go to the front and look out for Mom. I'm going to head back into the class and grab our bags."

"Sure." Atsuko said, "I'll tell Mom where you are."

I gave a small nod before running off to the classroom. I had to dodge around many of the students in the hallway though, and it was slow going. I was headed against the flow of traffic with everyone else trying to get out of the school.

When I did finally manage to reach the door I heard a sound that I could only describe as...cackling. I walked inside to see something I hadn't really expected to see.

Naruto had been on his knees and his hands fidgeting with something under one of the desks, though the sound of the door opening caused him to abruptly hide his hands behind his back as he gave a panicked look towards me.

I gave him a small wave and a greeting of "Yo."

"Ah...er...hi." Naruto answered, his face still looking stressed as he slowly inched away.

I really wanted to actually have some interaction with Naruto here but...well I didn't want to keep Mom waiting either. So I walked over to my desk and picked up mine and Atsuko's bags.

"Hey. If you don't mind, could you make sure whatever prank your planning avoids these two chairs and that one?" I ask as I indicate Atsuko's, Shino's, and my chairs. "If you do, I'll give you a box of pocky tomorrow."

"W-what?"

I turn and leave the room with bags in hand giving the boy a slight wave and a "See you tomorrow Uzumaki-san."

I stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind me. I took a few steps down the hall before taking a deep breath and leaning against the wall for a second.

I...think that went well. At least I think I won't get pranked tomorrow...unless he decides to do those chairs worse because 'Stupid guy thinks he's so cool'.

Hm...yeah that might be a possibility but I don't think it was too bad so long as I could play off the prank with a laugh.

If I wanted to be cold hearted about this, Naruto is an amazing asset to have as a friend. A whole lot of potential and a freakish amount of loyalty that I'd describe it as pathological. But also from an emotional standpoint...he was a kid with a good heart and could really use some friends.

Though he was also probably not use to a having friends so its probably not a good idea to suddenly approach him like I want to be his best friend ever.

I mean SASUKE became his best friend and he usually acted like he hated Naruto.

As I step outside I look around and manage to spy Mom and Atsuko, the two girls giving me a wave as I start to walk towards them. Though when I found myself half way there I heard a cry from behind me.

"Hey! Red-head-guy! Wait!"

I turn back around to see Naruto running up, my bento box in his hands; apparently I left it in the classroom.

Oops.

"You forgot this!" Naruto pants out as he thrusts the box towards me.

"Oh. Thanks. I'd have probably gotten in trouble if I forgot that." I say with a sheepish smile as I took it from him.

Naruto gave me a big smile as he scratched his head, "Maa, it was nothing!"

"Still, thanks."

"Dai-chan! Come on!" Atsuko yelled from her spot next to Mom.

"Hey I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks again!" I say as I turn around...just in time to catch my mother's expression.

She was looking at Naruto with an expression that I couldn't quite decipher. But...it looked vaguely hostile.

I...didn't expect that.

Mom and I went home in silence.

Well WE were silent. Atsuko seemed intent on regurgitating everything that happened today.

I'm pretty sure she was actually retelling some of the lessons word for word.

I can't say what it was that Mom was thinking about, but I couldn't get over the way she looked at Naruto. I'd NEVER seen a look like that on her before and...it bothers me more than I thought it would. Especially since Naruto had turned around, saw her face...and ran.

He probably thought tomorrow I would brush him off because Mom told me to leave him alone.

Which...she actually hadn't mentioned that yet.

So do I actually bring this up with her...or do I just go behind her back and do whatever I want anyways because she hadn't actually told me not to be around him?

...yeah, second one is more my style.

I think I'll have to go with that.

Though...that will mean that I won't get to know why my Mom feels this way despite apparently having been on a team with Minato when she was a genin.

Meh, there are other ways to ask about that, preferably when she hadn't recently seen and thought about Naruto.

When we reached the house I had expected to go work with Dad in the shop. I was looking forward to polishing my hammer technique. I was almost good enough that Dad would let me forge kunai by myself. That or work on my wood carving. We often needed to carve wood for the handle's of the kunai and swords we produced.

However, instead, Mom immediately took us up to her studio.

The room had a shelf that went floor to ceiling and spanned the entire length of the wall it was on. The various shelves were filled with scroll after scroll to the point I wasn't sure anymore would actually fit inside the thing.

Mom also had a large desk in the middle of the room that, for once, was actually completely cleaned off.

"I've brought you both up here because I your brush strokes are now good enough to begin learning my art." Mom said as she wheeled herself to the other side of the desk.

No. No way.

Was she going to actually be teaching us how to make seals?

My brain is doing the fangirl squee right now.

"As you probably guessed I don't just do calligraphy." Mom said as she reached into the drawer and pulled out a Konoha head-band and placed it on the desk. "I'm a special-jounin for skill with seals."

"Special-jounin?" I said in surprise.

"You make seals?" Atsuko gasped.

I slowly turned my head towards my sister with a raised eyebrow.

"...what?"

"You...didn't wonder why tou-san always stopped in this room to grab a box of stuff before taking the weapons to be sold?"

"Well yeah, I figured he was just going to sell some of Mom's calligraphy while he was out."

That's...a fair point actually. I suppose I was the one jumping to conclusions.

"I'm afraid not, Atsuko-chan." Mom piped in, "Tou-san takes some of the seals I make off to be sold as well."

Some?

So he doesn't take them all?

Interesting.

"So we're going to learn how to make seals?" Atsuko asked, excitement clear on her face.

"Mhm!" Mom answered, "Though for a long while you won't be putting chakra into the ink. A faulty seal is very dangerous. It could catch fire, rip itself apart, or even blow up, so its very important that you both always follow my directions exactly. If you don't then it will show me that you aren't mature enough for this yet and we'll stop until I think you are ready. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" Atsuko and I chorused.

"Good." Mom said with a smile before reaching down to get something out of one of the lower drawers of her desk. When she popped back up she placed a decent sized scroll on the desk and unrolled it. "This is a storage scroll. You can place any object that doesn't have its own chakra onto the array and then pulse your chakra right here," she said as she indicated a small circle on the scroll, "and it put it into storage for you later."

I...have so many questions. Where do I even start?

"Where does the stored thing go?" Atsuko asked in wonder.

Yeah sure. Thats a good question. Let's start there.

"I have no idea!" Mom said with cheery voice and a happy smile.

...what?

"Or more accurately, no one does. It's a subject of great debate among seal masters where it is that the stored items go to, how they get there exactly, and how we actually get them back. No one knows for sure."

And we use these on a large scale level?

That seems like a TERRIBLE idea. The potential implications are mindboggling. We are taking one of the most powerful forces in the universe, space time, and forcing it to bend to our will...and WE AREN'T EVEN SURE ON THE SPECIFICS OF HOW IT WORKS.

...great. Now I'm going to have nightmares about Cthulhu accidently being popped out of a storage seal.

Right. Don't dwell on this. Focus on something else. I have other questions.

"You said it can't store objects that have chakra. Why is that?" I ask.

Mom gave me one of those 'I'm glad you were listening' smiles.

"Well that's a complex answer. The truth is you CAN seal thing with chakra into a storage seal, however it's much tougher to do so. If you were to try and store...say...another seal. The amount of chakra you would have to expend to store it goes up based on how much chakra it has. Because of how much chakra it requires the two of you won't be sealing things with chakra for a few more years yet."

Okay.

I can see that. That makes sense.

Probably something to do with the object having more...metaphysical weight as it were.

"Can you seal a whole person?" Atsuko asked.

"If they are dead, yes." Mom answered. "And if you manage to seal them while they're alive...well they won't be when you bring them back out."

Egh.

Well...potential to weaponize?

Meh...not really. It would probably take way too much chakra if Mom's not exaggerating the amount of cost to seal things with chakra.

"Why can't you store living things?" I ask.

"Well, while we aren't sure where it leads, we do know that wherever storage seals send stuff is a place with such a small amount of air it might as well be a vacuum."

Now that was interesting. I'm sure I can use that somehow.

"Then...does food stay good inside a storage seal?" Atsuko asked, causing me to look over at her in surprise.

"...what?" she asks.

"Nothing. That was just...surprisingly insightful." I answered.

"What the heck is that suppose to mean?" Atsuko asked with furrowed brow and narrowed eyes.

"Uuuuuuuum..."

"To answer your question Atsuko-chan." Mom cut in.

Oh thank goodness.

"Yes. Food stuff takes a much longer amount of time to go bad inside a storage seal than out in the world. In fact, its most commonly used by ninja's in the field for food and some restaurants even use seals to store their food."

Oh. Thats cool. Mundane utility.

"Now, do you two have any more questions?"

Atsuko looked over at me and shrugged. I couldn't think of any other questions at this time either so I gave a shrug of my own and then a "No ma'am."

"Alright! So today we are going to start with the south-east section of the seal." Mom said as she pointed out the bottom right part of the seal from our perspective. She reached into her desk and pulled out a pair of chopsticks and placed them on the indicated section, a fairly small amount of the seal in-between them.

I leaned over and stared at the indicated section.

It had a fair amount of swirls and parts of it branching off. It was...pretty intricate actually. I probably wasn't going to get this section today...or possibly not even in the next few months.

Mom then pushed a piece of paper in front of us along with an ink brush. "Now try to copy it down. I'll you when you mess up."

"Wait. We just start drawing? You aren't going to explain what this section means or anything?" I always thought each part of seal had some sort of function.

Mom heaved a sigh and leaned back in her wheelchair. "I could explain what this section means. Storage seals are one of the few ones I actually understand. But that's really not a good way to teach seals."

"What? Why?" Atsuko asked.

"A lot of people think that there is a math to seals. That if you understand the basics you can then understand all seals by breaking it down into parts." Mom explained as she gained a slightly exasperated look on her face. "Those people are wrong. Seals aren't like math. They aren't even like a language. They are like thousands upon thousands of languages. Just because this bit means something in a storage seal doesn't mean it will mean the same thing in another one. There are so many different combinations and possibilities that if one hopes to learn a large number of seals in their life they have to not even attempt understand, but memorization."

"That's...so stupid." I say out loud.

"Yes Daisuke-chan. I know." Mom said with a smile. "But as you memorize them you begin to see a bit of a common thread and you begin to learn a bit more about seals. So its not as if I don't understand ANY of the seals I make, but I understand a far smaller amount than I create."

Wow.

I don't think I'm going to be sleeping well for a while.

"Now I suggest you two start from this part right here." Mom said as she pointed a particular swirl out.

And that was how Atsuko and I began learning that the pen is mightier than the cosmic force of space time.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Mom, Atsuko, and I headed off to the Academy together, Dad had opted to stay and work on a project he had received the previous day. (Though that vaguely sounded like an excuse not to go.)

Mom wheeled herself down the road as Atsuko and I stood on either side of her. Atsuko and Mom were chatting about the bit of the storage seal we had worked on last night.

I hadn't gotten very far. I've managed to memorize maybe a tenth of the section we were given.

Atsuko on the other hand?

She had managed to recreate that section of seal three times last night.

From memory.

It would have been more but Atsuko's hand slipped a few times.

If I wasn't well aware that it was a feat that the average six year-old should NOT be able to do I would be feeling a bit insecure right now. However since I know very few people would be able to do what Atsuko did last night I realize...Atsuko is a bit of a genius.

Or at least she is when it comes to memorizing seals.

Maybe she has a photographic memory? Makes more sense than just pure intelligence because...well...Atsuko wasn't dumb, but she wasn't the sharpest kunai in the brace.

"So when can we learn the next part?" Atsuko asked excitedly.

"Well if you can recreate it from memory tonight we'll move you on to the next part while I try and help Daisuke with the part he's on." Mom replied.

Ugh.

This was like learning how to talk all over again.

When we finally reached the school it was to the sight of all different children pouring into the school and giving farewells to onlooking parents.

Arriving at the gate at the same time as us were two people I recognized from the intro ceremony. Uchiha Sasuke and his mother.

"Sumi-san." Mikoto said giving a shallow bow to my mother. "This is a pleasure. I haven't seen you since you installed those locking seals for us."

"Mikoto-san." Mom said as she gave her own slight bow in her wheelchair.

The fact that Mom did custom work barely filtered through to me as I looked at the boy in front of me.

This kid...had so much potential. When he grew up he would be one of the two most powerful people in the world if he put his mind to it. He had the genetics and natural talent. All he needed to do was put in the hard work and he would leave almost all his peers in the dust.

He also had to potential to be a complete psychopath and a harbinger of destruction.

"What?" Sasuke asks with his arms crossed and a pout on his face actually doing a good job of making him look rather cute in that precocious six year-old way.

Whoever it was that I saw in the manga was not this boy right now. I couldn't even link the two in my mind they were so different.

"Who are you?" The pouty child asked.

"Hey! You're suppose to introduce yourself first!" Atsuko piped in. "Rude."

Sasuke sputtered a bit before a blush came to his face and he looked of to the side. "Uchiha Sasuke."

I give a shallow bow to him as I introduce myself. "Ayasugi Daisuke."

"Ayasugi Atsuko!" My sister said as she gained a much more chipper and playful voice. "Nice to meet you."

"R-right. Nice to meet you."

"I think you three better hurry if you don't want to be late." Mom piped in.

Atsuko and Sasuke immediately bolted for the door, apparently worried about being late.

I, however, turned to Mikoto and gave a slightly steeper bow to her. "Uchiha-san. Nice to meet you."

"To you too, Ayasugi-chan." Mikoto said with a kind smile.

I turned around and jogged to the Academy doors, leaving the two women behind.

It always helped to have a reputation of being kind and polite. It tended to make people more open and accepting of you. Plus it was the right thing to do; though many disagree with me on that point.

People get a very basic amount of courtesy and niceties.

Until they cross a line.

When I got into the classroom, I suspiciously cast my gaze around the room, looking for whatever prank it was that Naruto had set the previous day.

I didn't really see anything to indicate a prank though; everything was calm and no one was angry or talking particularly excitedly.

Maybe Naruto just got caught and the prank never finished?

Or he could have set it off on the teacher the previous day when he came back into the room.

Either way I felt pretty safe sitting down in my seat, which was the same one as yesterday.

There was no seating chart for this class but people tended to be creatures of habit. In my experience the places the people choose on the first day of school tends to be what they stick with for most of the school year. Though there usually is some changes as friendships in the classroom forge and break most will sit at approximately the same place.

Thus I wasn't surprised that Atsuko, Shino, and I got back our same seats again.

I sat myself down in the seat and class began. Nothing particularly interesting happened for a while.

That is until one student, Hibachi I think, went to stand up...and then tripped over and fell taking his chair with him. The seat of the chair apparently having decided that it liked its place sticking against his pants and not wanting to let go.

That sat off a chain reaction as everyone stood up to see what was going on...only to stumble and/or trip as their own seats stuck to them as chaos broke out in the classroom.

So this was Naruto's prank. It was pretty genius actually; I'm not even sure how he did it. I saw several students get up and sit down at the beginning of class, how did it only start now? He was only a first-year academy student so it almost definitely wasn't a chakra technique. Not sure how you have a time delayed glue though.

Now the question was...did he hold to our bargin?

Cautiously I tried standing up from my spot, and let out a sigh of relief when I found the chair not rise with me. My slight action enough to make Atsuko stand up on her own.

"Huh. Someone missed a few spots." She wondered aloud.

I gently grabbed her and pushed her back down into her seat whispering. "Yes. Now if you could keep it to yourself that would be nice. They might think we did it if we were avoided."

"Oh...ooooooh." Atsuko said as she leaned back in her seat and started let out the conspicuous inconspicuous whistle that was often seen in entertainment.

"Stop whistling. That does not help!" I whispered harshly.

"You don't help." Atsuko shot back before sticking out her tongue.

Ugh.

The seats were easy enough to get off after a few tugs, and the glue on the seats was removed fairly easy with a scrub brush and some water. Atsuko and I pretended our own seats needed to be scrubbed. I suspect Shino's chair didn't need scrubbing, but he also seemed to decide not to draw attention to himself.

Other than Sensei threatening the perpetrator to turn themselves in "or else," (which wasn't very effective considering Naruto wasn't even in the room) the day went by pretty uneventfully.

After a few classes (torturously boring math among them) it was again lunch time.

As we were released I, like many of the students, immediately stood up and slung my pack over my shoulder. Atsuko seemed ready to say something but stopped herself and followed my lead.

"Hey. Aburame-san, right?" I asked as I saw Shino slowly rise from his seat. "Do you mind if I have lunch with you?"

That...was actually more nerve wracking than it should be. I mean, come on, I'm just asking a six-year old if he wanted to have lunch with me.

Wait...that sounded creepy.

"I was planning on having my lunch outside today." Shino said as he began to walk to the door.

Ouch. That actually hurt a fair amount.

Shino's steps stopped as he turned just enough for me to show up in his peripherals. "You are welcome to join me."

I feel the rush of elation as I smile and follow after him. "Thanks. Where did you have in mind?"

Apparently Shino had decided to eat outside near a cusp of trees.

Atsuko followed us out and spent a fair amount of time wondering around and not joining up with any group. That is until she walked up to a familiar pink haired girl.

Not sure how I feel about her befriending Sakura but I didn't have a say in the matter.

"So why this spot?" I asked Shino as we sat down and opened our lunches.

"Why? Because I noticed a beetle's nest here yesterday." Shino replied.

"Really? Where? I don't see anything." I say as I glance around.

Shino points over to the tree next to us where, at its base, sat a small collection of fresh green leaves. "There. How do I know it's a beetles nest? A gathering of fresh leaves like that is usually the mark of the Land of Fire's Nesting Beetle."

Huh. I'd never heard of anything like that in my previous world, though it may have existed.

"Why do they nest though? I mean most beatles don't do that, right?" I ask.

"Why? These beetles actually store food. A habig unusual for this genus."

"Huh. So little critter storage. Cool." I say.

"Yes. Its very effec-"

"Hey! You! Pockets-guy!" A loud voice interrupted, causing me to look up in time to see Naruto headed towards us.

I glanced over at Shino and then myself.

I..guess he meant me because of all the pockets on my pants?

"Ne-ne! Pockets-guy! I didn't do the three seats you said!"

I gave Naruto a smile. "No Naruto. You didn't. Thank you."

I say as I reach into my pocket and pull out a box of chocolate flavored pocky and tossed it to him. Naruto fumbled and the box for a few seconds before gaining hold of it.

"So how did it go? They were falling all over themselves weren't they?" Naruto asked before laughing loudly as if he had been there to see it himself.

"They were." I said with a nod.

"So it was you who pranked my classroom?" Shino asked.

"Er..." Naruto responded, his face sweating slightly as he refused to look at Shino's face and said "Noooooooooo."

Shino continued to stare at Naruto for a few moments longer until the blonde interrupted the silence. "Welp. Would you look at the time I gotta go...be somewhere else. See ya Pocket-guy!" With that Naruto took off running towards the building. Possibly to play another prank.

"Aw. Why'd you run him off? I was interested in how he got the glue to be time delayed." I said with a slight frown.

"Why?" Shino asked.

"Well because a time delayed glue seems kind of interesting to-"

"No. I mean why did you have him not apply glue to my seat as well?" He asked as he stared intently at my face.

Or at least I think it was intently. Those sunglasses make him hard to read; which I suppose is the point.

"Oh. Because I was planning on trying to befriend you today. That's easier if you aren't angry about a prank."

Shino stared for a moment longer before giving a nod. "Thank you for your consideration."

"Sure." I replied with a shrug.

I'm pretty sure that's the moment Shino and I became friends.

A week and a half had passed since I had entered the Academy and today was the day we got back the results of the first tests we took after we finish lunch.

I was fairly confident I got an A, possibly even getting every answer right. Though that shouldn't be too unusual considering it was only the first test and it was meant for six year-olds.

So while most of the class was talking about how they thought they did on the test I focused on how to possibly befriend Sasuke a bit. Maybe instill some philosophies into him that might guide him to not be a psychopath. Not entirely sure how to do either of those though, since Sasuke tends to disappear during lunch and I don't really have any other time to cultivate a friendship with him. I'll probably give up on him for a while to see if I can cultivate relationships with other people. (Which is pretty important I think. Having your fellow soldiers have a good opinion of you makes them trust you more and more willing to go to bat for you. The return is obviously expected of me too but I'm okay with that.)

That said, hanging out with Shino was becoming more and more common.

I found I rather liked the guy.

He was very matter-of-fact and blunt in a way that I could appreciate but also didn't always expect me to talk as we were together. I'd grown rather use to not talking much over the years so I appreciated having someone who could understand that. Though I did also note that Shino could also get pouty pretty easily.

The first time I went to try and find Sasuke during lunch Shino got all dower and self deprecating making me have to assure him that I did still want to spend time with him. But hey, everyone has flaws.

Naruto on the other hand was proving a bit of a mystery. He would pop up and talk with me on occasion and I'd hold a conversation with him, but he would also suddenly run off sometimes. And he never came with me to the front of the school where Mom waited on us.

I could understand the last part there, but I'm not sure why he's being so flighty about this. I would have figured that he would cling to anyone that extended him a hand of friendship, but he seemed to wander in and out of my life like a stray cat. I can't help but think that the reason for it is a fear of rejection. It would be a logical guess, but something about that doesn't seem quite right to me.

Atsuko was also doing a decent job of making friends. Her and Sakura were quickly becoming thick as thieves (which makes sense since we are in fact learning how to be thieves) and the two would often been seen together during lunch and after school, talking and giggling like the young girls they are. Atsuko was already trying to get Mom to let Sakura over, which was a pretty big step in this culture. Inviting people into your home is just not something that happens very often; I'm guessing because of ninja paranoia.

Sakura was actually pretty meek at this stage of her life but I don't expect that to continue for too much longer.

Shino and I had again sat at the cusp of trees to have our lunch outside. It was a bit of a tradition of ours since I liked the shade and Shino like to look at the various bugs in the area as he ate.

"Hey! Stop!" I heard Atsuko's voice cry out, drawing my attention across the school yard to where Atsuko and Sakura were, along with three other people. Her voice wasn't just loud, it was **angry**.

I recognized two of them. Ami was a purple haired girl in my class that I found to generally be a suck up to teachers and a backstabber to her fellow students, and Unagi, another student from my class. Unagi had long brown hair and wore glasses. I'd actually only really knew who he was because he was the fastest in our handsign drills.

The last one was a blonde kid who wore one of those bandana things that you put over your head and tie at the back of your head. It kind of made the kid look like idiot in my opinion, but I didn't particularly care about that at the moment.

I cared about the fact that it looked like someone was picking on my sister and her friend.

I marched myself towards the group intent on the group a few stern words and send them on their way under the understanding that they weren't to pick on these two ever again.

"I'm not talking to you." The blonde git smeared, "Go run off and play with your dolls."

"You know just because you play with dolls doesn't mean that the rest of us do." Atsuko shot back with a smirk.

Not a bad come back for a six year-old, taking an assumption someone has made about you and turning it around on them. Bonus points for it being slightly emasculating. I felt proud...until the guy pulled his arm back in an apparent attempt to strike at my sister.

**That was not okay.  
**  
By that point I was close enough to step forward just in time to grab him by the arm he had raised and yank back with all my might, causing the kid to come straight off his feet and land on his butt a few paces behind him. The kid stared stupidly at me for a moment as he seemed to not understand what just happened.

"You two okay?" I asked Atsuko and Sakura.

"Y-yeah." Sakura replied.

"Hey! I could have handled it." Atusko replied.

"You could have, but now you don't have to."

It was at that time that Larry, Moe, and Curly regained their footing and realized that they were suppose to be the aggressors and being treated like they currently were was a damage to their pride.

"What's the big idea? Hitting a guy from behind?" Blondie groused.

"Okay, a couple things there. One, I didn't hit you, I pulled you. Two, you are trying to maintain a moral superiority when you were about to strike an unsuspecting girl? Three, of course I hit you from behind, we are here learning how to be ninja, moron."

Blondie stood up while blustering without actually saying anything, "Yeah, well, I...you.."

"Hibachi-san." Shino's voice came from just behind, not sure when he got there. "It is ill advised for you to continue. Why? Because you are now outnumbered four to three." He said as he came to stand even with me.

"Five." Naruto's voice said as he came up to them on the other side of us, "And I wouldn't even need the rest of them." He said as he thumbed a finger against his chest.

The three had apparently decided that this situation was making them feel weak and powerless, the exact opposite of what they were going for when they started this confrontation, and decided it beat a hasty retreat.

"Tch. Whatever. I was only offering some friendly advice anyways." Hibachi said as he turned and started to walked away with his little entourage.

I was not okay letting it end with just that.

"Hibachi-san, was it?" I asked causing the kid to turn around and look towards me. I put on the kindest looking smile I could and slightly turned my head as I told him, "If you raise your hand to any of us again, I _will_ punch you in the throat."

"W-whatever." He muttered before picking up the pace in his escape...Unagi had actually already disappeared, apparently having booked it when I wasn't paying attention to him.

"You know you guys didn't have to do anything." Atsuko said as they left. "Sakura and I could have handled them." She said as she placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Mhm. I'm sure you could have Atsuko. But now they know that when they mess with you two they also mess with us...if you two don't mind being lumped in." I said as I looked at Shino and Naruto.

"Of course not. Why? Because helping one's friends is just-"

"Heh! Of course not! You can count on me anytime." Naruto interrupted as he smacked his fist into his other hand.

Shino turned and stared at Naruto, not saying anything. He was probably irked that Naruto interrupted him and it was always obvious that Shino's long silent stares always weird Naruto out.

"What?" Naruto asked, Shino continuing to look on in silence, "Stop staring at me dammit!"

"Psh. Boys." Atsuko said before turning around, "Come on Sakura, lets finish lunch."

Sakura started to follow after my sister before hesitating and turning to me. "Daisuke-san...thank you."

I gave a shrug, "Meh."

I always felt uncomfortable receiving thanks or praise for things that just anyone should do.

After we finished that we went back inside and received our test grades.

I stared at the paper, my brows furrowed and mouth agap.

"What?" I asked aloud.

Through my whole paper half the questions had a little red mark next to it showing a loss of points and didn't provide a reason for it at all. This was..not okay. I KNOW I got a lot of the questions marked right. This had to be a mistake.

"Sensei." I say with a raised hand. "I think something is wrong with my test grading."

"No, there isn't." The teacher responded, "You just didn't answer the question how you were suppose to."

What? I covered everything I needed to in my answers. I gave everything it asked me to give.

"What did I do wrong?"

Daikoku-sensei walked over to my seat and opened up my test and pointed to a certain question.

"Here. The question was 'How does the textbook say the Leaf Village was formed.' You responded with, 'An alliance formed between the Senju and the Uchiha which in turn caused various others to join in at the prospect of the new and powerful village."

"But...that is what happened."

"It is, but that's not what the textbook says."

What? What's he talking about. That's basically what the textbook said, I just...said it differently...hold on now.

"Are you saying I missed the question because I didn't quote the exact line that was in the textbook?" I asked with my eyebrow raised and more than a little bit incredulity.

Sensei stepped back from my desk and addressed the class, "Yes. You will miss questions that ask you to quote the book if you don't use the exact words the book uses. As a ninja you need to be able to memorize and give back information you come across. Even if you get the basics right you will only receive partial credit for questions that don't meet the exact quote."

I gaped at the man.

That...that was so stupid!

There was no way I could do that! That's not the way I learn! I needed to associate the information with things I already know or put it into my words otherwise I just can't remember it.

Thats...thats bullshit!

When it was time to go home I immediately marched to the gate, Atsuko at my side.

"How was school?" Mom asked as as we approached.

"Fine." I said a bit tersely as I passed her and started to head towards home.

"What's wrong with Dai-chan?" Mom asked Atsuko.

"He made a bad grade on the test." Atsuko stated back in what _she_ thought was a whisper.

"It wasn't a bad grade." I interrupted. "A seventy-five percent is passing." I still wasn't looking back as I continued to head home.

"See? He's grouchy." Atsuko again 'whispered'.

"Argh!"

Mom's giggle then was one of the most annoying sounds I had ever heard.

"I'm going to work in the forge." I stated aloud as we went inside and I bee-lined it towards the shop. I could really appreciate being able to pound on something for a little while.

I quickly stripped off my jacket and shirt and replaced it with the thick shirt I usually wore in the forge. I didn't want to get my other clothing dirty but I also needed to be sure to wear something, since a few stray embers landing on my skin would not be comfortable.

"Daisuke." My father greeted from his place across the shop. He was currently working on putting hilts on a bunch of swords we had recently gotten a commision for. It was an order that occasionally popped up and I'm not quite sure where they go but every few months or so Dad makes it his priority to make a dozen or so new swords. I was always curious who ordered them but I never saw who came to pick them up and Dad didn't take them out with his deliveries.

I gave Dad a grunt of acknowledgment before grabbing a clay cup and walking over to the buckets of raw metal.

"Everything okay?" Dad asked.

"I'm fine."

I gather the relative bits of metal that I was looking for. I mostly stayed away from the more expensive metals right now, I still occasionally ruined my projects and I don't think I was going to be overly careful today.

"Mhm. Don't start the furnace yet. I need to go inside real fast."

I give a sigh of impatience but nod anyways. I could spend the time putting the coal in and arranging it as well as prepping the kunai mold.

Dad walked out of the room as I set about my task, shoving in the coal and then using a pair of tongs to prepare a good spot for the clay cup to rest amid the inferno. As I was grabbing the mold and ensuring it was clean and prepared to receive the molten metal my father walked back into the shop and took a seat on of the two steps leading down into the room.

"Daisuke, come over here and have a seat. We need to talk."

"Are you _really_ sure we need to?" I really would rather let off my anger by beating on a piece of metal.

"Daisuke." Came my father's commanding tone.

I roughly set the mold back down and sat down beside the larger man.

"Atsuko told me what happened with your test today." Dad began.

I let out a groan, "Its so stupid! I know the information! I **know** it! But no! That's not good enough! You have to have the almost useless talent of regurgitating information word for word to actually get a decent grade! Its the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

"I agree." My father said.

Of all the things for him to say, I wasn't expecting that.

"Wha-?"

"You know, I once attended the academy too. I also had a lot of trouble quoting the text book exactly." He then gave a dry chuckle, "I however _didn't_ know all the answers on the test either."

I hadn't ever really thought about what my parents were like in the academy. Usually I do like being compared to my father, I love and respect the man so it always comes off as a compliment to me, but today I just didn't care that my dad had the same problem I'm having now.

"In fact I was the lowest ranking student in the class." Dad continued.

That got my attention. Dad was a deadlast?

"I attended the academy for two years before I got so upset with my failures in the classroom that I quite the academy and gave up on being a ninja. I instead decided to focus on inheriting and mastering my family's craft of blacksmithing."

Dad...was a dropout? He just quit? What is he even trying to say right now?

"So you're saying that I should quit and focus on being a blacksmith?" I asked.

"I won't deny that a big part of me would be glad if you never became a ninja. It's dangerous work and I'd be happy to see you safe." Dad rested his hand on my shoulder, "However, more than that, I'd hate for you to quit and think of yourself as a failure."

"Dad, I don't think I'm a failure. I'm actually worried about being something else."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Mediocre." Honestly failures weren't the worst things. It usually just means with them they are better suited for other areas and not the one they were trying in. I didn't believe anyone was completely useless, but being just mediocre was the antithesis of what I wanted in my life. To just be another random ninja mook that can't do anything and will pass on with nothing to leave behind but a name in a stone.

"Son. You are anything but that." Dad said as he looked me in the eye, "I was nothing but a failure and a quitter and I managed to become the best damn smith in Konoha, and you are far more remarkable than me. If I managed to accomplish that? Then you could end up something far more grand than me. Be it as a ninja, blacksmith, sealmaster, or whatever it is you decide to do."

I knew he was saying this to make me feel better. That even if he believed what he was saying it was out of bias as a proud parent.

That didn't change the fact it made me feel better.

Just a little.

The weeks started to go by faster as everything started to fall into a rhythm. The classes started to slowly become more complex but I still found math to be frustratingly simple. We still hadn't gotten to the point of sparing in our physical fitness class, though I was reasonably certain we would be soon. The last lesson we had was starting to cover pins and how to escape them.

I wasn't very skilled with pins yet, but I could escape pretty much everyone's and they could rarely escape mine, though it wasn't because of any amount of skill but just by virtue of having the best upper-body strength in the class. Generally the person that gets paired with me for the practicing pins complains to the sensei that it isn't a fair match; which was rather annoying but I didn't mind that much because of the utterly terrified look on Unagi's face when he got paired with me.

I have to admit that the my relatively higher strength is really appreciated in connection with what I remember of Chungdokwa. While I didn't use the indicative kicks of the style very often there was still a reason it's name means Blue Wave. Its a martial art that is intended to slam into the foe with all the force of a tidal wave, hence the name. Honestly the biggest epiphany I had for that martial arts in my last life was when we were covering blocks and the instructor told me to not block to keep the strike from hitting me, but to ideally also break their arm when I perform the block.

I'm not one for an elegant and soft style.

Things were also progressing well in the forge; I was noticeably becoming more skilled in the art. Dad often only had to give one or two corrections to my work before giving it the okay. It was quite a confidence booster. If nothing else I could actually end up being a pretty good blacksmith.

If only my sealing lessons had been going half as well as I was doing on the forge.

I still hadn't managed to finish the first section of the storage seal. I just couldn't keep everything straight, it was all random swirls and lines to me.

Atsuko on the other hand had not only finished the storage seal, but had proceeded to then memorize the seal for flash bangs and a seal that could pull out impurities in water. The progress was so astounding Mom would always look at her in surprise whenever she came to check on my twin's progress.

She was definitely a sealing prodigy, but it also seemed to just apply to seals. In school she was near the top of the class in grades, but others were past her. I personally believe she just had a great memory but that didn't help with more critical thinking questions, hence the questions she gets wrong on her tests.

On the friendship front...I hadn't really made much progress. Shino was definitely in the "best friend" category, and I was pretty sure I was the same for him, but it ended up always making me feel guilty to leave him alone at lunch. I knew it hurt his feelings a bit when I did it so I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Occasionally Naruto would show up and join us for lunch but he'd either get distracted by something and run off or he and Shino would have a disagreement that ended with Naruto being weirded out enough to leave. (The two of them just didn't seem to get along. Though I'm hoping that will change as they get older.)

However, today Shino didn't show up for school. I part of me was worried about that, but I figured that it was just because he had a cold or something. If he didn't show up within the next few days I'd really start to fret, but in the meantime this was a good way for me to interact with others my age. (Well...physical age, though that distinction was growing more and more blurred for me.)

Thus it was that when the lunch bell rang I found my way to the roof rather than go to my usual spot. The roof was a nice spot, it gave a good view of the village and was removed enough from the yard that it gave it bit of a sense of privacy.

It also had an excellent view of the sky. Which is why I wasn't surprised to find one Shikamaru and Chouji resting up here.

Shikamaru lay on his back with his arms behind his head while Chouji sat off to the side eating what looked like three separate bento.

"Hello." I say as I walk forward before tossing one of my small boxes of dango towards Chouji, who managed to catch with a surprising amount of agility, "Mind if I eat with you two today?"

Chouji looked over towards Shikamaru who in turn just shrugged and said, "Whatever you want."

"Thanks." I say as I sit myself opposite Shikamaru and open up my own bento and began my meal.

It was actually a while before anyone actually said anything, it felt to me like the two of them were gauging how much of an inconvenience or asset I'd be to them. Silence was actually often a good way to judge compatibility with someone, especially with a friendship like these two had where they probably sat with each other for long periods of time without actually saying anything.

I was use to such periods of silence, being a friend with Shino, so I simply sat and ate my lunch whilst occasionally looking up into the sky at the passing clouds as I pondered on what sort of project I wanted to work on next after Dad gives me the okay on my basic blacksmith ability.

"Did you bring the dango expecting to hang out with us?" Shikamaru asked.

I took a moment to drink from my thermos of green tea, buying me time to think on how I should answer. Having brought the sweets just so I could befriend them wouldn't really be viewed as a bad thing in this culture. It's not a bribe so much as considered stacking the deck in your favor and was generally considered a wise move. Taking credit for that would probably make Shikamaru think I gave this thought and had planned this the previous day.

"Nope. I really like sweets. I generally have a box or two of something on me. The thought of giving Chouji one only really occurred to me as I was climbing the stairs." I answered.

Honesty and forwardness is probably a better policy. They might end up thinking me a fool, but at least they'd think of me as an honest fool.

"What kind of sweets do you have?" Chouji asked in curiosity.

Another reason I gave Chouji the sweets other than a good first impression. It also gave a subject for us to talk about.

"I usually have either dango or pocky on me, but that's just because they are easy to get. I tend to go for chinsuko or sata andagi if I could get my hands on them." Chinsuko were great cookies that Mom made on occasion and sata andagi was...basically a doughnut but without the shape my old life was use to.

"Ah. Both those are good. My uncle owns a bakery that makes the best chinsuko, I could take you there some time." Chouji offered.

That...was impressive. I didn't expect to get an offer to hang out outside school so soon. Though that might also just be an excuse for Chouji to go get some sweets, which sounds like something I'd do.

It might also be because I was the other "big kid" in the academy. I mean, Chouji still definitely weighed more than me but we had a similar bone structure that emphasised being built wide for power and stamina rather than speed and flexibility.

Basically we were both a bit handicapped in the two physical areas that most ninja considered the most important.

"That would be great. Thanks. If you ever need to commission some weapons or armor let me know. My dad is the best smith in town and I might be able to swing it for you to get a discount."

Shikamaru actually opened his eyes and looked up at me as he said, "You're dad is Ayasugi Hada?"

Ha! His reputation proceeds me!

"Yeah. That's him." I answer.

"Huh." Shikamaru responded before going back to look at the clouds.

There was a brief and comfortable moment of silence before Chouji spoke up again, "So what do you think of maju?" Chouji asked.

"Oh. Don't even get me started."

Over all, I think it wasn't a bad initial 'get to know you'.  
-

It had been a while since my confrontation with Hibachi, Unagi, and Ami and I had mostly put the incident out of my mind. The three of them hadn't given any of my friends trouble since our little...heart to heart. Thus I was mildly surprised when I came across the scene in front of me.

I had been walking to the front gate at the end of school when I heard the scuffling I knew to associate with a fight, though that wasn't near as loud as the sounds I knew to be Naruto battle cry as he haphazardly ran at his enemies without any sort of form or strategy. Such a sight wasn't that unusual. Naruto would challenge people to the fight at near a drop of a hat. It wasn't unusual for me to step up and break up the fight though. (Usually it was just an attempt to save Naruto some pride.)

However what I came across today had me clenching my teeth in anger.

A teary eyed Hinata sat on the ground, looking on in amazement as Naruto ran against three boys, (Hibachi, Unagi, and one other one I didn't recognize) only for the whiskered boy to be harshly smacked down into the dirt. It was only moments later that Naruto stood up again and charged back at the three boys, his arm cocked back and horribly telegraphing his move while he practically tripped over his own feet as he ran. Naruto again was knocked into the ground.

Then he got back up again.

Judging from how Naruto looked, he'd been at this for a while.

They were ganging up three on one after having picked on a little girl.

I marched forward into the middle of the fray, stopping Naruto in his charge as I calmly walked up to Hibachi and looked him in the eye.

"Daisuke!" Naruto said in surprise at my sudden entrance.

"Hibachi." I said, ignoring Naruto for a moment, "I beleive I made you a promise."

"What? What are you talking ab-hgh!"

Hibachi was cut off in the middle of his sentence as I cupped my hand and shot it up and forward to solidly smack into the boys throat, causing him to keel over while gasping and choking. The two lackies on either side of him took a step back, looking at me in apprehension. I ignored them to turn back around and walk over to Naruto.

"You okay?" I asked him while I looked him over. He didn't seem to have anything other some bruising all over his...everywhere, but he should recover pretty fast.

"Uh. Yeah." Naruto answered.

"And you Hyuuga-san?" I asked the watery eyed Hinata.

"Y-yes." She answered while she kept her gaze locked on Naruto.

Heh. I think this was the beginning of her crush on the knucklehead. Better encourage that.

I lean over to the girl and whisper to her, "He's pretty cool, huh?"

Hinata turned red as a tomato and just started stuttering so much I couldn't make out anything she was saying.

"Watch ou-hey!" I heard Naruto's cry from behind me.

I turned to look just in time to see Hibachi's fist heading straight for my face. The fist smashed hard against my cheek, making me stumble back and my head whip to the side. Then Hibachi made the same mistake I had made just a bit ago.

He waited for me to recover.

I could taste copper in my mouth from where the inside of my cheek had received a cust as it pulled across my teeth. I slowly turned my head back towards the kid and spat a small glob of blood out onto the ground.

Behind Hibachi Naruto was trying, and failing, to fight the other two bullies.

"Heh. How'd you like that?" Hibachi sneered.

"That was a good punch." I answered, "But you only get one."

I stepped forward and snapped my leg out for a kick. Hibachi made the stupid decision to block rather than dodge so he was sent stumbling back as my foot smashed into his double arm guard. Capitalizing on his mistake I took a big step in as I brought my right arm around in hook towards his jaw. The blonde managed to yank his head out the way of the blow as he shot out a one-two punch trying to get me to back off.

The first strike went wide, not even coming close to hit me, but when his right fist came out to punch at my face I hooked my entire body to the side with my arm raised in an inside block. It was textbook perfect. Hibachi's side was now completely unguarded and open for the quick two punches I placed into his ribs followed by a third one that smashed into his jaw.

Hibachi went down like a sack of potatoes. Though from his groaning I think he was conscious.

The remaining two boys glanced at each other before deciding that discretion was the better part of valor and booked it.

"That's right, you better run!" Naruto shouted after them, one of his eyes looking as if it was swollen shut and his legs shaky as he tried to stay standing.

"Whats going on here?" A voice I didn't recognize shouted "Hinata-sama. Come. You shouldn't be with...these boys."

I turned around to see...that-one-branch-clan-member-who's-name-escapes-me come up and grab Hinata gently, yet firmly, by the hand and escorted her away from the scene.

"B-but" She started to say, however the man kept pulling the girl away and out of our sight.

I gave a big sigh as I tried to catch my breath. I didn't actually DO that much but it felt like I just ran a full cardio session.

"Hey Naruto." I said.

"Hm?" He asked as he turned towards me.

"You really need to work on your tactics. You shouldn't have just jumped out and charged at them like that when they outnumber you. You also telegraphed your moves when you weren't even in striking distance from them. You almost tripped over your own feet half the time and this was honestly a pretty stupid thing to do." I said, causing Naruto's face to flush and a look of anger starting to come over his face, and slight tears to prick at his eyes. It was a bit mean but he needed to hear that.

But that didn't mean he didn't also deserve praise.

"However," I began, "you didn't hesitate to jump in to save a girl you don't know. The odds stacked against you didn't at all impede your courage, and no matter how many times you knocked down you got back up." I closed my eyes and gave him the biggest smile I could manage, "You were really cool."

Naruto gaped at me for a moment before a giant grin split his face and he rubbed a finger under his nose. "Hehe! Of course! What do you expect from the man that's going to be Hokage!"

I started to feel elated. This was a good thing we did here. I think its a pretty big net positi-

"Hey! What's going on over-did you two do this to Hibachi?" Iruka's voice cried out from behind us, having apparently come onto the scene.

"Uh...well if you want to get _technical_ yes we did. But really I'd say Hibachi did this to himself." I answered.

"Oh really now?" Iruka asked as he loomed over me.

I glanced over at Hibachi's slumped over form as it loud out a low groan. "...that's my story and I'm sticking with it."

"Alright. What happened?" Iruka asked Naruto and I.

Iruka had taken us to the classroom and very sternly told us to wait there while he took Hibachi to the nurse's station. Naruto made to run at the time but I held him back. It's not like we weren't ever going to come back here again, better to explain our side now. Naruto did agree but he spent the length of time Iruka was gone staring at the door thinking about running.

"Hey hey! It's not our fault! The jerk and a few others were all like 'you're freaky' to this girl and she was crying so I tried to make them stop. Then I was like 'Hiya, pow, smack'" Naruto said while gesturing wildly and making punching motions, "But there were three of them, so I had a little trouble. I mean, I could have done it on my own, but Daisuke showing up was helpful. A little."

Iruka stared at Naruto for a moment before turning to look at me with an expression I took to mean 'translate please'.

"I was drawn to the scene of conflict when I heard the sounds of fighting, specifically Naruto's battle cry. Deciding to break up the fight I headed in that direction. When I arrived I found three students, Hibachi, Unagi, and one I don't know the name of, fighting against Naruto while off to the side Hyuga Hinata sat off to the side crying."

"Wait. Hinata was there?" Iruka interrupted, "Is she okay?"

"Yes. It appeared she was fine. A member of her clan came and collected her just before you arrived." I answered.

Iruka gave a sigh of relief before continuing the interrogation, "And you came on to the scene and just decided to join in the fight? How did you know Naruto wasn't the reason she was crying?"

"I'm familiar with Naruto's character. Making a girl cry isn't something he would do." At least not on purpose. "But I was familiar with Hibachi and Unagi. I once had to stop Hibachi from striking my sister. Naruto and Shino backed me up then. I also left Hibachi with a promise then."

Iruka messaged his temples, "What was this promise and why do I think I'm not going to like the answer?"

"Because you aren't going to like it. I promised Hibachi that if he ever raised a hand to Shino, Sakura, Atsuko, or Naruto I'd punch him in the throat."

It might have been better to conceal some of that, but I'm not sure if I can lie convincingly to a chunin. Plus I don't think I really did anything overly wrong. Hibachi was clearly the aggressor and Iruka was one of the better teachers to tell this to.

"I can't speak for Naruto, but if what you've said so far checks out, you're probably in the clear Daisuke." Iruka said as he leaned back on his desk.

"What? Why's he clear?" Naruto shouted indignantly.

"I know he didn't start it. He was defending fellow students, one of which is the Hyuga heiress, and he had previously declared his intent to defend you should Hibachi ever attack you." Iruka said with a shrug, "By all rights most people in the village would agree with Daisuke's initial answer of 'he did it to himself'."

Wait, really?

I was just trying to be clever.

Huh. Not to self, tell people I think I might have to end up fighting that I'm going to punch them in the throat if they cross a certain line.

"Naruto on the other hand might be in hot water if Hinata doesn't come forward and say that Hibachi started this."

"Eh? Why me?" Naruto shouted.

"Because you might have started a fight that ended with a student having a fractured rib." Iruka answered.

What?

"But I didn't do it!" Naruto shouted.

"True but you might have been the reason it happened." Iruka said as he stood. "Daisuke, you are free to go, but you might want to stick around. Your mother was notified and-"

The door to the classroom opened to show my mother on the other side with a worried look on her face. "-she is here. Apparently. Hello Ayasugi-san."

Mom's eyes looked over me for a moment before an expression of relief came over her.

It was followed a second later by a look of anger.

"Hello, Umino-sensei." Mom acknowledged before glanced over towards Naruto, her eyes hardening for a moment and she turned back to me. "Starting fights Daisuke? Really?"

"Um...technically I didn't start the fight." I said weakly, "I just finished it."

"Up. Now. We'll talk about this at home." Mom ordered. I'd never seen her this tightly wound up. Which...made it all the harder to say what I'm about to.

"I'm sorry Mom. But...can I stay here to support Naruto? Please?" I ask.

Mom seems thrown for a moment before answering. "No, Daisuke, come on."

"Mom...please? I'm the one that fractured Hibachi's rib. If Naruto gets into a bunch of trouble...it's going to be because of me. The very least I can do is stay with him."

I briefly thought about voicing the fact that he had no-one else to stay with him but...that would probably hurt Naruto more than it would be helpful to the situation.

Mom stared at me for a long moment, emotions flashing through her eyes so quick I couldn't really place any of them until it landed on a disgruntled look. "Fine. Be home by nine." She said in a tone that made it clear she wasn't happy with the decision she had come to.

"Umino-sensei. I trust you'll watch over him until this is resolved?" Mom asked as she reoriented her wheelchair to point towards the door.

"Yes ma'am." Iruka answered, "I'll make sure he doesn't get into any more trouble."

With that Mom rolled herself out of the room, Iruka following out a moment after with a "I'll be right back, **don't go anywhere.**"

For a few long minutes the room was filled only with the sounds of the ticking clock, the slight rustling of our cloths, and the sounds of our breath.

I wasn't quite sure what to say after that moment. Pretty much everything I could think of saying would draw attention to the fact that my mom really didn't want me to stay here and defend a friend, which is something most parents would rather like their child doing.

It was a conversation mine field I'd rather not navigate. Too many outcomes would end with me either saying something about Kurama that I really shouldn't know, or saying something to Naruto that would amount to kicking a puppy.

Maybe I could talk about-

"Thanks." Naruto's voice suddenly spoke up.

"Sure." I said with a shrug, "I couldn't let you get into more trouble just because I didn't know how to hold back."

That was something I'd have to work on too. Hurting someone to that extend was not my intention at all. It was the kind of force you want to use on enemy, not someone from your own village. Which...might be why we hadn't started spars yet in class. He wanted to make sure something like THIS didn't happen.

"Still...thanks. I've never had someone stand up for me like that." Naruto said, his face looking away from me.

"Hey, if I didn't step up to help the hero save the princess, I'd be a pretty crummy guy then, wouldn't I?" I said with a grin.

"Heh." Naruto laughed as he turned around and looked at me, "Then I better make sure you have my back when I'm Hokage!"

"Yep." I agree with a smile, "And make sure you live long enough to get there." Which...that was a pretty big task too. I mean, he'd have half the S-ranked ninjas in the world trying to kill him.

A tall order indeed.

It was several hours later that Iruka walked Naruto and I home. Apparently Hinata had confirmed that Hibachi started everything so Naruto and I were let go with a 'Don't let it happen again'.

It was actually a bit funny when it happened, since the expression on Naruto's face when he was told he wasn't in trouble at all looked like rather like fish out of water.

Still, Iruka dropped me off in-front of my house (while Naruto yelled that if I lived here I must be rich) and I went inside to find a mostly silent house. Which probably meant that Atsuko and Mom were working on seals and Dad was probably in the shop.

Deciding I didn't really want to have to have to deal with any drama about my friend choices I headed towards Dad's shop.

Thus I changed my clothes and walked into the forge to find Dad running our sharpening stone down the edge of...where those Asuma's trench knives?

...I think they were.

But...isn't Asuma off with the Ninja Guardians right now? Well...I suppose he could get them later or they could be a gift that's going to be sent to him or he sent them back for some maintenance.

Dad stopped for a moment to look over to me before going back to sharpening the blade. The stone he was using wasn't the usual whetstone that most people used to sharpen their blades. A normal whetstone wouldn't actually make our higher quality blades sharper, since the metal used was so durable. Said blades didn't need to be serviced often as a result, but the average person wasn't equipped to give the maintenance it needed.

"Daisuke." My dad greeted. "I heard you had an eventful day."

Ah Dad. He always knew how to correctly make understatements.

"Yep." I answered as I walked over to pick up the blade Dad wasn't handling and began to sharpen that one.

There was a few minutes that only held the sound of the sharpening of blades before my Dad said, "So. You hit someone. Who?"

I gave a small shrug, "A kid named Hibachi."

"Mhm. You have many problems with him before?"

"Once. He tried to hit Atsuko." The sounds of Dad sharpening ceased.

"Oh? And did you win the fight?" Dad asked mildly.

"I fractured one of his ribs."

"Good." Dad said before the sounds of sharpening again resumed. "So what started the fight?"

"He and two friends of his had made a girl cry and then ganged up on...the guy that tried to stop them."

"And who was this guy?"

"...Uzumaki Naruto."

The sharpening again stopped, but this time only for a moment. "I see. That explains a lot."

Well, Dad handled that way better than I thought he would. It seems Dad doesn't have any real prejudice against Naruto, which is weird, because I thought it would have been Mom that would wouldn't have done it. Which begs the question...

"Why does Mom not like him?" I ask.

"You noticed that?" Dad asked, though his tone remained unsurprised. "That's...complicated."

For some reason I couldn't help but feel that wasn't just a cop-out to avoid talking about Kurama, it felt like there was...more there.

"Will Mom try and make me stop being his friend?" I asked as it came my turn to stop my sharpening.

There was a poignant silence until Dad answered with a question, "If she tried to make you stop, would you?"

"...no. He's alone and he needs someone to be there for him. It's the right thing to do."

"Then do it." Dad set the weapon and sharpening tool down as he turned to look at me, "Daisuke. I want you to always, and I mean always, do what you think is right, regardless of what someone orders you to do."

"Yes sir, I promise." It was an easy promise for me to make. I'd always intended to do just that anyways.

"I'll talk with your mom, but trust me, she won't make you stop being his friend...though it is probably best you don't bring him around here. For now, at least." Dad said as he went to go inside to the house proper, "When you are done sharpening that, put it and its partner away in box twelve."

"Yes sir." I answer as I slowly sharpen the trench knife.

Why did I feel there was a bunch of subtext in that conversation I completely missed?


	4. Chapter 4

The third year of the Academy was looking to be the most interesting one yet.

My first two years in the academy were pretty similar to what it would be like at a regular school, if said school also taught the correct way to strike someone and wilderness survival. But we hadn't really learned anything too "military" yet, having mostly stuck with things like math, history, and geography.

The third year is when that all changed.

We would actually begin to have sparring matches in class, our school supply list included wooden kunai, one of our school books was labeled "A Guide to Battlefield Tactics", and the single most exciting thing of it all was that the first day of the third year was the day we were going to be taught how to access our chakra.

I was finally going to get to learn how to pimp slap the laws of physics. Something I had very much been looking forward to.

I sat in my seat at school, the corners of my mouth slightly upturned as I leaned forward on my desk while my leg bounced up and down under the table.

Was the teacher late? I'm pretty sure he was late. It feels like class usually would have started by now.

"You are excited." Shino's voice piped up from next to me.

By the second year Atsuko, Shino, and I had rearranged ourselves a bit. Atsuko sat on the isle chair, I sat in the second seat, and Shino moved down to sit next me against the wall. Eiichiro, the student who had sat there previously, put up a bit of a fuss about his spot being taken, but the rest of the class pretty much told him to shut up and take another seat.

Eiichiro doesn't talk to the three of us anymore.

"Of course I'm excited." I say to Shino, "How can I NOT be?"

"The prospects of what we will be learning this year is exciting." Shino agreed.

"Wow. Could you have said that in a more boring way?" Atsuko teased from my side.

"If I had put the effort forward, yes." Shino answered.

A smile broke across my face. I've managed to finally start corrupting Shino with my sense of humor.

Atsuko rolled her eyes and went back to rummaging through her pack, making sure she had everything she needed. I had rushed her out the door this morning and she seemed certain she forgot something.

"Good morning class!" Daikoku-sensei called as he came into the room.

"Good morning Sensei." The class called back.

I actually hated that tradition. Calling out in unison with everyone else like that always felt pretty juvenile to me.

"Welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your time off." Sensei said as he walked over to his desk. "Now today is going to be a bit different. Today is going to be completely dedicated to one thing." Many of the students shifted in their seats and whispered lightly to each other. "Thats right. Today is going to be all about having you all access chakra."

Oh this was going to be good.

I think accessing your chakra was a potentially dangerous task. At least that's what I believe from the fact that we were separated into groups of three and assigned a chunin to watch over us as we tried to access our chakra. There was also a Hyuga off to the side with his Byakugan active and watching over all of us.

Since we were allowed to chose our own groups it was a no-brainer that Atsuko, Shino, and I teamed up together. Though there really wasn't much along the laines of teamwork possible here. We were just brought together and told to contemplate our navel. Though thankfully that isn't all that they left us with.

Initially just trying it on my own really didn't give me a anything but the fact that I was kind of hungry since I had a light breakfast, I really don't think it's possibly to discover your chakra just by "contemplating your navel", which is where the chunin watching over us came in. The chunin would rest their hand on-top of the student's head and slowly trickle their own chakra into the student.

At least that is what we were told was happening.

"So who's first?" Our chunin, some guy named Ken, asked. Which his name of "Ken" really drew an odd look from me. It didn't really sound very Japanese to me and I actually had an uncle named Ken in my previous life. Regardless, when he asked who wanted to go first Atsuko and I shoot our hands up at the same time while Shino's hand remained down.

Atsuko and I turn our heads towards each other and narrow our eyes. I slowly raise my left hand until it was chest level, palm facing the ceiling, while my right hand lowered down onto it in a clenched fist.

Atsuko mirrored me a moment later.

"Janken pon!" We both said as we smacked the fist onto the palm with each syllable.

Atsuko went paper, I went scissors. Atsuko gave a huff of frustration and turned away while I looked to the chunin, who was looking at the two of us with a rather amused expression.

"So are you ready then?" Ken asked.

I took a deep breath before nodding, "Ready."

Ken reached forward and placed his hand on my head, "Close your eyes."

I complied with his order and tried to quiet my mind.

"I'm starting now. You should feel it traveling down your spine and heading towards your stomach."

I furrowed my brow as I grasped at the feeling. I didn't quite feel what he was...wait...there it is. It was...a difficult feeling to describe. It...rather reminded me of getting a cast off. I once broke my wrist in my previous life and had a cast on for several weeks. When I finally got it off and my skin got to again touch something besides the inside of the cast...that feeling was the closest I come to in discription here.

"Yeah. I feel it." I say.

"Good. Now follow it down into where it's pooling in your stomach. I want you to tug on it, try to get it to move."

It was pretty much impossible for to describe in words what I did next to someone who's never managed to wield chakra. It would be like telling someone how you move a leg or walk. You just...do it. I began to move the energy around and it...rather felt like moving my foot after I had been sitting on it for too long.

"Excelent. Now can you feel the difference between my chakra and yours?"

"Yeah." I answered, "Yours feels...colder." Now that I was focusing on it, his chakra felt kind of like...cold liquid mercury.

"...thats right. Now I want you to see if you can push my chakra out with yours."

Push his chakra out? That...was like forcing a genjutsu to release wasn't it? Genjutsu works by inserting some of your own chakra into someone else's and using it to affect them. At least...that's what I remember.

With that thought process I brought my hands together, clasping them while my pointer and middle fingers pointed upwards and I forced my chakra to pulse from my core outwards, forcing all of the chunin's chakra out.

I slowly opened my eyes to see the chunin looking at me in a small amount of surprise. "Wow. You actually managed to force me out on your first try. Good job. Most students can't manage that."

Really? It..wasn't that hard. Though from how he said it I don't think the feat could be described as genius worthy, just a "Oh hey, you managed it. Good job."

Still, that I did well with my chakra was...elating.

Chakra was probably the most important thing a ninja had, so being skilled with it was essential. I...think I'm off to a good start.

"Now, for the young lady's turn." Ken said as he placed his hand on-top of Atsuko's head.

As he began to work with Atsuko I closed my eyes and again focused on my chakra. Not really moving it or anything, just focusing on the feel of it and how it moved through me. I wasn't actually going to try and DO something with it yet. That sounded like it would probably be a dumb idea, but just recognizing it moving through me was...novel.

It had been there this entire time but...I just didn't know how to feel it. I wonder if people in my old world also had chakra, but just didn't know what to feel for? Its possible. I knew it was there in this world and couldn't feel it.

Well...I suppose there isn't much of a point in thinking on that, though it was an interesting idea.

However in a more practical sense this also meant the start of something. I'd now finally be able to learn some of the blacksmith techniques that use chakra and Atsuko could finally start to apply chakra to her seals.

A smile slowly spread across my face as I began to think of all of the possibilities.

I was close to pulling out my hair in frustration. It had been about two and a half years since I first started learning how to make a storage seal and I was STILL on the first portion of the thing! I could sometimes copy it down right, but Mom's requirements was that you get that section right ten out of ten times before moving on, and I never got that far.

Meanwhile I've lost track of the number of seals Atsuko has learned. Freaking prodigies.

I let my head bonk against the desk in-front of me as I let it fall in frustration.

"Daisuke..." Mom began, her tone soft as she tried to figure out how to word this best without hurting my feelings. "You don't have to do this you know. Not everyone is cut out to learn seals."

A part of me knew she was right. It had been two and a half years and I hadn't even managed one eighth of one seal. That was...really sad. It really might be wise to focus my talents elsewhere.

But...

"No. I'm going to learn at least this seal. I might not be a great seal master, but I can learn at least this one seal." I answered firmly.

I sunk too much time into this. I **refused** to let it be for nothing.

But I can't keep going about it the same way. I need to do something different here, I need to switch things up. Okay, how to do that effectively?

Well my problem is that I'm not good at memorizing things that have no meaning to me. That means then that...

"Mom. I want you to explain to me what each symbol means, please."

Mom leaned back in her wheel chair and regarded me for a moment, fondness welling up in her eyes as she looked at me. "Are you sure? It will be complex and most people regard this as the hardest path to take. Chances are you won't ever learn to make more than two or three seals if you go down this path."

"Yes. I'm sure." I answer immediately, "Please. Help me out here mom."

Mom looked at me for a long moment, a slight smile on her face. "Daisuke...I'm proud of you."

"Huh? Where did that come from?" I mean, I'd basically just given up on her chosen teaching method.

"What you just did, it was wonderful." She answered, "You acknowledge your weakness, but didn't turn around and let that weakness define you. Instead of giving up you turned around found another way to reach your goal." Mom answered with a serene smile, "Its very grown up of you. I'm proud."

I felt my cheeks heat up, "Its not...that impressive. It's just being stubborn."

"Not exactly. Most men are stubborn, however you are being stubborn in a smart way." Mom replied, "Let me put it this way. When most men run into a wall they tend to just seem to bash their head into the wall until they give up or their head caves in. You didn't do any of those, you ran into the wall and decided to go get hammer."

Huh.

That...sounds about right for me. Though I could think of a particular Uzumaki who wouldn't do any of what was described. He'd just beat his head against the wall until the wall gave in. Though seeing as I don't have Uzumaki durability I'll go with the hammer option.

"...thank you, Mom."

"Of course." She answered before pointing to the section in front of me, "Now, see this section right here is representative of continuation, meaning its what keeps the item stored over a period of time."

Hopefully, with this I'll finally be able to draw this damn seal.

It was about ten o'clock at night, a week before the third year of the Academy ended, when our house got a knock at the door.

Such an incident was rare in our household, or indeed most people's. Ten o'clock at night saw many people sleeping so its generally considered bad form to disturb a house at such a time. Thus it was that my curiosity was piqued and I set down my ink brush to go see who it was.

I arrived just in time to see my mother open the door to reveal a man in grey armor and wearing a white falcon mask with red lines on it.

What was an ANBU agent doing at my house?

"Sumi-san. There's been an incident. The Hokage has requested your presence in the Uchiha Compound." The ANBU said.

Uchiha compound? Then that means that...oh.

I run over to a window and look outside, my eyes landing on a red moon in the sky.

It happened tonight. The number of living Uchiha in the world was down to three. When this was just a manga it didn't really hit me how big that was. I mean, I could understand it was an important event, but actually being here now I knew, and could **feel** how big this is. The Uchiha name is synonymous with power and for all of them to disappear in one night is like nothing this world had ever seen.

"Daisuke." My mom's voice called, making me turn around to see something I hadn't before.

Mom was wearing the typical Konoha jonin outfit, complete with headband tied around her head. She was also not sitting in her wheelchair but supporting herself with a crutch. "Don't wait up for me. You need to go to bed."

I give mom a nod but I don't say anything. I might go lay in bed but I wouldn't actually be able to drift off to sleep. Not while knowing that so many people had died tonight and it would leave one boy in so much pain it was liable to drag him into the darkness of despair.

And I hadn't managed to do a single thing to stop it, even though I knew it was coming.

Sleep that night would be passing at best.

"Why the heck are we here?" Naruto asked dubiously as we headed into the lobby of the hospital.

The teachers confirmed what I already knew earlier this morning. The Uchiha clan was all dead with the exception of one Uchiha Sasuke. So as soon as school was over I grabbed Naruto and made my way to where I'm pretty sure Sasuke was being kept.

"Because we have a classmate in the hospital who just lost everyone he loves and he could probably use a friend right about now." I answer.

"...oh." Naruto answered quietly.

I walked up to the counter to see a kindly looking nurse, "Excuse me." I say.

She glances down at me and gives me one of the smiles I recognize from years of working in the retail industry. Its the one that says "I'm tired and want to go home but I have to pretend I'm happy to see you."

"Yes, how can I help you?" She asks.

"A classmate of mine was admitted here last night. I'd like to visit him." I answer.

"Right. Name of the patient?"

"...Uchiha Sasuke."

That actually seemed to get the woman to actually focus on me. "I'm sorry but I can't let you in to see him, hospital policy."

I was afraid of that. Such a thing wasn't unusual and the fact that they had it here doesn't surprise me. But I wasn't quite ready to let it end there.

"If we were family, would we be allowed to visit?"

"Yes. But-"

"Ma'am" I interrupt, "There is a nine year-old in that room whose entire world has collapsed and he **doesn't** have a family to come in and keep him company." I look up at here with the best puppy-dog eyes I can manage, "If it were you, would you want to sit in a room by yourself after something like that?"

The nurse opened and closed her mouth a few times, her body language screaming with uncertainty until finally she answered, "I'm sorry. The rules are rules."

Dang it. Maybe I'll have better luck coming back after this nurse's shift is over.

"And the rules would definitely say I'm not allowed to tell you he's in room 306. It would also be against the rules for the two of you to sneak past me while I'm busy putting away these files." The woman said as she stood and turned her back to Naruto and I.

"Wait, is she telling us to-" Naruto began to ask.

"Shh!" I say harshly as I slap a hand over his mouth, "Just come on."

It didn't take long for us to find room 306, though there appeared to be an ANBU guarding the door. It...actually looked like the same one that came to our door last night.

Now I don't particularly think Naruto and I are actually good enough to sneak past an ANBU so I decided to take a more direct route.

"Hi." I said walking right up to the man, "We're here to keep Sasuke company so he doesn't let his thoughts spiral into depression, misery, and rage."

The falcon masked man stared at me for several long moments before shrugging and opening the door.

"Wow. That actually worked?" Naruto asked in wonder.

"You'd be surprised at how much you can accomplish just by being honest." I answer as I walk inside the room.

The room was about the size of a hospital room in the old world would be, though there was only one bed in the room. Which...seems like a bad idea to me. They should have SOMEONE in here with him and they could place a ninja to watch over him in the room and just pass him off as another patient. They missed an opportunity there.

On the bed though laid one Uchiha Sasuke and...the boy looked like he had aged years since the last time I saw, which was within the week. Sasuke's eyes had incredibly dark circles under them, his skin seemed more pale than normal, and I'm pretty sure I saw his back shaking before he turned around to look at us entering. He had a food tray beside his bed, the contents completely untouched.

The boy said nothing as we came in, he simply turned his face away to stare out the window.

"Hey! You can at least say hi!" Naruto groused.

I heaved a sigh and massaged my temples a bit. Maybe bringing Naruto wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Naruto. We are here to provide sympathy. Please don't antagonise Sasuke."

"I don't need your sympathy." Came Sasuke's scratchy voice as he looked at us with rage in his eyes.

No...rage really wasn't enough of a word here. Sasuke's eyes were wild and intense in such a way that I could only describe it as hatred.

"Fine. Not our sympathy. Then just our company." I responded.

Sasuke let out a growl and grabbed the plate off the food tray and threw it at us. "I don't need your company either! You think that just coming in to sit around is going to do anything? Just sitting around in the room on your asses is going to change the fact that they're **dead!**"

"Hey! We're trying to make sure you don't have to-" Naruto started to say before he was cut off by Sasuke.

"Get out!" Sasuke shouted, Naruto and I glancing at each other not quite sure what to do...though I think for Naruto that was just because he was thinking of going up and punching Sasuke in the face. "I said get out dammit!"

"Fine. Be alone ya bastard!" Naruto shouted before he turned to leave the room, causing me to heave a sigh before I began following after him.

I stopped right at the entryway and glanced back at the young Uchiha, "Sasuke. I know this is painful for you, on a level I don't think I can comprehend. But if you push away everyone and let your pain consume you like this it will only end badly. For you and for everyone around you."

"Why are you still here?" Sasuke groused as he turned his head to look away from me.

With a shake of my head I walk out into the hallway and close the door behind me.

"Thank you." A voice piped up, making me look up at the Falcon ANBU at the door.

"For what?" Naruto asked, "Making the stuck-up bastard throw a hissy fit?"

The ANBU shook his head, "That was the first time anyone has gotten him to speak since he arrived in the hospital."

Oh.

Naruto and I walked out of the hospital, Naruto clearly upset at what he viewed to be a waste of time.

"Why'd you have me come anyway? That was stupid."

"Because Naruto it..." I trailed off, thinking of how to say what I was intending, "What we just did wasn't a waste of time. We actually did something important in there. We reached out to him."

"But what's the point if he's just going to scream at us?"

"I can give you two reasons." I answered holding up two fingers, "It doesn't matter as much how people respond when you try to help them as much as it matters that you try. We can't predict what people will do, but we can make sure we do the right thing."

I heave a sigh and run a hand through my short red hair, "And the second reason is...he only kicked us out because he was in pain. People deal with their pain in different ways. Some people through tears, some through depression, some by pretending it's not happening, and some people just get angry."

"Then...how do you help someone that doesn't want to be helped?" Naruto asked, confusion on his face.

"I don't know that you can." I answer with a shrug.

It was again the first day of the school year and I was absolutely thrilled about it. Though the reason for my thrill wasn't necessarily that school was starting (like many students I found even ninja school a tad boring at times), but just the fact that it was a great sign of progress for me. I really felt as though I've grown in the last year and I had some tangible proof.

For one I FINALLY managed to make a Storage Seal. Not a section of the storage seal, the entire actual seal. Learning why I was doing what I was doing and what all the symbols meant did me a world of good and I really managed to go through it so fast that it seemed to surprise Mom. Though if that was surprise because I was now learning faster than normal or just because I was so slow before I don't know, but I don't particularly care either.

My grades from last year were pretty much the same as what they've always been: middle of the class in written tests because of the stupid memorizing thing but top of my class in physical ability. There were new things that we were graded on now though. The classes we had on how to manipulate chakra put me in the top twenty five percent or so; I have a larger than normal sized chakra reserve and just a bit above average control. Throwing weapons I was...okay at, the teacher called me "passable". However the bit that I really enjoyed and shined in was our classes on tactics. An old life of playing games like Civilization, Command & Conquer, and XCOM gave me just a slight bit of edge over my fellow classmates and the teacher would regularly use my assignments as examples to the rest of the class on what to do.

Atsuko on the other hand was scoring on the lower end for that class. The scenarios where it focused on what she should do as an individual went well but she always seemed to have trouble knowing how to coordinate multiple people at once. Actually Atsuko seemed to score opposite of me in many ways. She did wonderfully in our weapon throwing classes, and was passable at physical fitness. She had better than normal chakra control but an average pool.

Atsuko did still have one major advantage on me though. She was still learning how to make seals at a near alarming rate. Last count I got was that she knew how to craft thirty different seals Though granted most of those seals were things like dehumidifiers, warming seals, cooling seals, and one seal that accelerated the rate at which a rat's body decomposes. (Not just any organic matter. Specifically dead rats.)

So because of this growth Atsuko and I had been placed in the class under one Umino Iruka, who was responsible for the students set to receive a jonin sensei.

Apparently the reason that the classes are redistributed after three years is to separate us based on apparent ability. Everyones new class was designated as one of three kinds. The first was the class that would be teaming up three students under a jonin sensei, the second teamed two students up with two chunin, and the last would be the students that would be given an opportunity in one of Konoha's departments (such as the codes and ciphers department).

Atsuko and I had apparently been considered good enough to get into Iruka's class for those on the jonin track. I'm not overly certain whose spot I took in the class that would have been there in canon but the roster I looked at had everyone I was expecting to see.

"Bye you two. Have a good day at school." Mom said from her spot at the door.

"Wait...you aren't going to go with us to the front gate?" Atsuko asked, sounding slightly hurt.

"I'm afraid not." Mom said with a shake of her head, "You two are grown up enough now to make the trip on your own. You don't need me carting you everywhere."

Right. I almost forgot. In the eyes of this world we are just three years from being basically adults. I should have expected this.

Though Atsuko looks like she doesn't really like the idea very much.

"Ah." I say in a sad voice, "I guess I'll just have to have Atsuko help me through my disappointment, and keep me safe on the way there and back."

Someday she would eventually be able to tell I wasn't being sincere.

"Right! I'll keep a good eye on him Mom!" Atsuko chirped.

But that day wasn't today.

"Thank you, Atsuko-chan." Mom said, "Now move along you two. Don't want to be late."

"Bye!" We both called as we left the house behind us.

That...actually felt like it was a bigger step than it should been.

-

Atsuko and I ran the whole way to the school. Which coming from people that know how to use chakra, that's actually pretty fast. So we managed to arrive in the classroom pretty early. Most of the students hadn't arrived yet.

Atsuko manages to spot Sakura and immediately run off to go sit next to the girl. I half expected that but I was slightly worried that I'd have to convince her to not sit next to me. I'm glad I don't have to go through the effort of having her to do it...and there's a bit of me that's also not glad about that fact but it can shut up.

I notice Shino sitting in a spot by himself up against one of the windows. I quickly take a spot next him.

"Hey. How are you?" I ask.

"I am well. My break was quite productive." Shino said as he reached up to adjust his sunglasses, "Why was it productive? I have received my kikaichū hive and it is developing nicely."

Whoa what? That's huge! Shino had had bugs in him since he had been born but they were his father's bugs and he held no control over them. When a Aburame child is young they run the risk of not controlling the bugs well enough that they end up eating all of the child's chakra. To be given your own bugs is a big sign of 'We consider you mature enough to not accidently kill yourself.'

"Congradulations! I'm proud of you! Why didn't you tell me that you were getting them over the break?"

"Why? Because I didn't know myself. My father informed me the day it was meant to happen."

Really? Just walk up one day and go 'Hey son! We're going to place a colony of bugs inside you later today. Better get ready for that.' Aburame are weird.

But everyone worth knowing is at least a little weird.

"Still, that's really cool. Can I see one?" I ask.

Shino gives a nod before raising one of his hands with his pointer finger extended. A moment later a bug crawled out from his sleeve and onto the falange.

The bug didn't look like any beetle I had seen before, though I suppose I really shouldn't have. Still I expected a bit...more from a bug that could suck chakra out a person.

Definitely not going to let any Aburame know that ever though.

"Wow. Thats really cool." I say as I give Shino a smile a clasp on the shoulder before making my voice sound choked up, "My little Shino-chan is all grown up."

"Do not call me Shino-chan." Came the boy's low response. I knew it to mean that Shino was irked at my prodding.

"Right right. Sorry. I won't do it again...Shino-chan." The Aburame fixed me with a dead stare.

"Sorry. Last time...for the next few hours at least."

Shino turned and looked away from me out into the yard. Apparently he was one-hundred percent done with my crap for now. He'll probably be giving me the silent treatment until about lunch time.

He was a bit sensitive like that. I should probably get him some winter melon later to make up for it.

While he's pouting though I look around the room and see who else is here.

My eyes quickly land on Hibachi and Unagi. The two might be bullies, but they are apparently pretty good students. Though I don't know that they will ever amount to much beyond the classroom. I don't remember either of them being shown in the manga at all. Though my presence here might also be what ends up driving them to become better ninja, so who knows?

I also manage to spot Sasuke sitting off by himself.

He's...been a tough one. The day after Naruto and I went to go see him, I went back by myself to try and talk to him but I wasn't allowed in. Apparently he decided to exercise his right deny people entrance to see him. That hadn't changed across the six times I tried to come and see him. Finally he was let out of the hospital and there was nothing I could do. I didn't know where he lived so I couldn't exactly go knocking on his door.

Trying to start something right here and now in the classroom also felt wrong.

The sliding thump of the door opening got me to look over in time to see one Hyuuga Hinata walking into the room. The girl was hunched over and had an expression that rather reminded me of a scared rabbit as she glanced left and right trying to decide where to sit.

"Hyuuga-san!" I called from my seat, "You can sit over here if you would like." I gestured to the aisle seat beside me.

The girl let out this surprised squeaking noise that would have thought came from a woodland creature before hesitantly coming over to us. "Are...are you sure? I don't want to intrude or anything."

"If I wasn't sure I wouldn't have invited you." I said as I pulled the chair out for her.

She looks up from me over to Shino, "Aburame-san. Do you mind?"

Shino tore his gaze from the window to look over at us, "No. I don't mind." He said shortly before returning his gaze outside.

"Don't worry about him." I said, "He's a bit touchy because I said something to upset him earlier."

"O-oh...okay." The girl said before easing herself into the chair like she wasn't entirely certain that was a good idea, but despite that the girl looked over to me as she said, "Thank you for inviting me Ayasugi-san."

"It was my pleasure Hyuuga-san." I replied, "And please call me Daisuke-san or Daisuke-kun."

"Y-yes. And you can do the same for me."

I tilt my head the side as a smirk tugs at my lips, "You want me to call you Daisuke-san or Daisuke-kun?"

"No! Sorry, I meant-" Hinata's face was a brighter red than my Dad's hair.

"Hinata-san. Calm down, its okay, I know what you meant."

That was so easy I actually feel bad.

A moment later Iruka-sensei walked into the room and looked around before saying, "Alright. We'll begin in ten minutes, if those of you already here would get out your chakra theory books and turn them to page six we can be a bit ahead of the curve."

Iruka was proving to be slightly disappointing.

I had expected the man to be this amazing teacher beyond comparison to any I had before...and I'm not entirely sure why I expected that. Perhaps it was because of the students coming out of this class being the most important people in their generation. But...I guess he really didn't really have a whole lot to do with that really.

Now Iruka wasn't a BAD teacher so far. He was just...pretty average so far. At least as far as his lesson plan went. Though I will say the man seemed to know when to slow down and explain a certain subject more, but I'd had teacher before that were good about that.

Things were pretty much the same as last year so far, except for the fact that we were having lunch slightly earlier and our physical portion of class wasn't set for being the last thing we do in the school day.

Plus we were also scheduled to start learning the bunshin later this week. Finally learning a ninjutsu was cool and all...I just wish it had been one of the other two first. They always struck me as far more useful, since pretty much everyone was always able to tell that the bunshin weren't solid. Henge was shown to be useful through the entire series and kawarimi had interesting possibilities if it worked the way I thought it did.

The big thing we were doing today though was the first sparring class of the year.

The teachers never really told their pupils who was considered to be the best student in a spar but they didn't particularly need to. In my previous class I had had the position, but I didn't particularly have much in the way of competition. This year though I'd be going up against people like Kiba and more imposingly, Sasuke.

The sparring matches later that day was the subject on most everyone's lips as we stood up to go to lunch.

"Heh. You guys just make sure not to cry when I cream you all!" Came Naruto's boast. Which was so loud it drowned out most of what other people were saying.

"You?" Kiba asked with a scoff as he stood up, "Don't make me laugh. I could take you down with my arms tied behind my back."

"What'd you say Kiba?"

Aaaaaaand they're off. The two wouldn't start a fight in the classroom with Iruka here...probably, so I got up and looked at my desk partners.

"Lets go have lunch outside. I feel like it might remain a bit loud in here for lunch." I said.

Shino immediately stood but Hinata seemed to be hesitating, glancing over at Naruto and poking her fingers together. "U-um..."

"It's okay Hinata. Don't worry, they probably won't start an actual fight. Plus I'd like to introduce you to some people."

"Who?" She asked.

"Hyuuga Hinata, this is Ayasugi Atsuko, my twin sister, and Haruno Sakura, Atsuko's best friend." I say as I gestured to each girl in turn, "Atsuko, Sakura-san, this is Hyuuga Hinata."

My reason for doing this was pretty simple. I really didn't understand the mind of a pre-teen girl, so I wasn't particularly confident in my ability to actually make a good and meaningful impact on Hinata.

"H-hello. N-nice to make your acquaintance." Hinata stuttered as she bowed fairly low while her face showed she was clearly flustered meeting new people.

Sakura and Atsuko's gaze met for a moment and I think I heard one of them mumbling something along the lines of "She looks like a scared rabbit." Before the girls strode forward and grabbed hold of the Hyuuga's shoulders.

"Hinata-chan! Come over here. I love this jacket, where did you get it?" Atsuko asked as she started to escort the girl away.

"Are you wearing make-up? There's no way that you can have skin like that if you aren't." Sakura continued from Hinata's other side.

"O-oh. Um." Hinata glanced behind her as she was being dragged away, her eyes looking unsure as they looked over at me.

I gave a smile and waved as the three girls left, "Bye! Have fun you three!"

Shino came up beside me, staring for a moment before he broke the silence. "I am unsure if that was a nice thing to do or a mean one."

"Yes." I answered before turning around to go to our usual spot.

"Alright class!" Iruka called from his spot in front of the the circle in the dirt that made the academy's sparring area. "Not everyone is going to get a chance to spar today but I'd like for you all to watch carefully even when its not your turn. You can learn a lot just by observing."

Fairly true. And it actually helps if you go a while without others seeing you spar but you get a chance to see them go. Knowing what to expect is a huge advantage and could make up for a gap in skill.

"Which is why I'm going to be pitting the student's that were the best in their previous class together." Iruka continued, "Sasuke, Daisuke, if you would step into the ring."

Wait.

I'm facing Sasuke...that...sucks.

Sasuke was a prodigy, and I had yet to have that word thrown my direction. But..that doesn't mean the results are decided.

"The rules are the same from last year. The fight is over when one of you is pinned, falls, or steps out of the ring." Iruka said, "Now, make the seal of confrontation."

I slowly raise the seal up as my mind races.

Okay think. Break up the problem into parts. What are Sasuke's advantages?

Speed. He's probably faster than me by a fair margin which will make him a pain to hit.

Skill. He's probably much more adept at this than me. He can probably pull out holds and counters I wouldn't even be able to think of.

But what do I have?

Strength. I'll eat my coat if Sasuke is physically stronger than me. I've put a lot of work into that category and I doubt anyone in my age group but Lee would be able to beat me in an arm wrestling contest.

Durability. I'm built big and made to be able to take a hit. Sasuke isn't.

Okay, so don't worry about light hits and take him down when I see an opening and only go for an opening if I'm sure it actually is one and not a feint.

"Begin!" Iruka called, starting the fight.

Sasuke shot off like a rocket toward me as I raised my arms in front of me in a block as I pivoted to the side and stepped back in the hopes of being able to take the Uchiha's side. I was unsuccessful as Sasuke immediately reoriented himself on me, his fist lashing out to try and get past my guard in a frenzy of quick blows.

I kept up as best I could but I was forced on the defensive as Sasuke's fists moved so fast and in a non repeating patte-

My trail of thought was cut short as one of Sasuke's fists managed to slip past my guard and strike me in the face. The blow stung but it wasn't very deep, I was able to keep hold my stance and even force Sasuke back as I kicked at him. But the boy charged back in as soon as I finished re-chambering my kick and again rained blow after blow at me.

The fight progressed in that manner for quite a while. Sasuke danced about me like a leaf on the wind and I couldn't even seem to land a glancing blow on the kid. On the flip side Sasuke wasn't able to get a really solid hit on me either.

"Hold!" Iruka called causing us both to stop in our tracks, "Daisuke-kun...are you sure you want to continue?"

I could understand why he would ask that. My left eye had been struck enough that it had swollen shut and my right cheek felt puffed and swollen, it was undoubtedly bruised. Going from the taste in my mouth my teeth were probably stained red from the slow trickle of blood coming from the inside of my right cheek. My stomach probably had a bruise in the shape of Sasuke's sandal on it.

I wasn't in the best shape, but my legs were solid and I could still mostly breathe.

Sasuke...still looked almost completely fresh, there wasn't a mark or bruise on him and his breathing wasn't even that heavy.

I should probably concede the match but...

"I would like to continue Iruka-Sensei." I panted out.

Iruka's lips thinned and for a moment I thought he'd make me stop but he heaves a sigh and takes a step back before announcing "Continue!"

Come on, think!

How can I win?

The fight's been going on for a while...he's got to want to end it. He probably thinks one good blow would end up taking me down so...

Sasuke stops in his tracks as I take a step back and lower my arms to completely expose my face as I took a very attack oriented stance. He knows this is trap. He **knows** it. His pride is telling him to trip it anyways because he could deal with anything I throw at him, but his good sense tells him otherwise.

Time to tip the scales. More than anything, Sasuke needs to prove himself right now, so, issue a challenge.

"What's the matter Sasuke?" I ask as a sneer comes over my face and I raise my head so I'm looking down my nose at him, "Are you afraid?"

The Uchiha gets a slight scowl on his face before he charges in and hooks his arm in for a powerful blow towards my jaw.

It also opened him up for what I needed. A dual exchange.

My head whipped to the side and my ears ring as Sasuke's blow lands home, but it didn't stop me from hooking my entire body into a punch straight into Sasuke's diaphragm. The blow was powerful enough that I think I felt him lift off the ground a bit as he let out a choked gasp. But I don't let it end there.

My fist at his stomach quickly grasps a hold of his shirt as my other hand reaches out seizes a handful of his hair. Human beings are hardwired to hesitate when their hair is yanked on so they don't accidently scalp themselves. I use that tendency to stop Sasuke from moving as I heave him over my shoulder and slam him back first onto the ground.

All the students gape silently as the sound of the prodigy's back slamming into the ground echos in the courtyard.

And despite that...Sasuke almost immediately rolls up to his feet and into a fighting stance with a pained look on his face.

I get out of my stance, shaking my head as I let out a bout of...slightly crazed laughter. "You really are a genius." I say between gasps. "But...I win this one."

Sasuke scowled as he looked down at his feet, which were several inches outside the ring.

It was at that point Iruka seemed to remember he was suppose to be the referee as he strode forward and gestured towards me. "Daisuke-kun wins by ring-out."

The students went crazy. It was such a cacophony of shouting I couldn't really make out who was saying what. Though some seemed happy that I won, while others apparently seemed to think I robbed Sasuke of his victory. Most of the latter seemed to be female.

"Now make the seal of reconciliation." Iruka ordered.

Sasuke scoffed before turning around and walking away through the crowd of students.

He was sore at his loss...I could actually get that. Still didn't affect my elation at winning. Even now I couldn't stop myself from giggling madly.

I beat Uchiha Sasuke. I beat the resurrection of Indra in a fight.

"Hey." A peeved voice said, causing me to look up to see one irate Yamanaka Ino. "Don't get a big head. Sasuke-kun would have won that fight if it went on any longer."

"Yep. Doesn't matter." I said as I slowly walked out of the ring, a silent Shino coming to support me as I went.

"If this had been outside a sparring ring he would have whipped the floor with you!" She continued.

"Doesn't matter, still won!" I called back.

I'm going to treasure this victory for a loooong time.

Months passed after my spar with Sasuke, people eventually stopped bringing it up. (Though Kiba, Naruto, and Atsuko were known to bring it up as they looked Sasuke dead in the eyes.) There has yet to be a rematch, which I'm thankful for since the last one left me with bruises that lasted for days. Since then Iruka hasn't paired us together for a spar for rather obvious reasons.

I had gotten a chance to fight many of the other students though. The results were the same pretty much every time but we got there in different ways.

-  
(Kiba: Five weeks ago)

"Heh. I've been wanting to get a shot at you." Kiba said as he got into the low animalistic stance of his clan.

"Really? Well be sure to remember that at the end of the fight."I say as I go into my usual stance.

I knew what to expect from Kiba, he was the kind that always gave a head forward charge focused on offense. So I didn't let him get the chance to meet me on his terms. I shot of towards him in a shoulder charge that he was a bit unprepared for, Kiba had never faced someone with as aggressive of an opener as he usually gives.

He wasn't very hurt but it dropped him on his butt just long enough that I could place a knee on him and win the match. Next time I fought him it wouldn't be that easy but I generally felt I could handle Kiba...if he doesn't dip into his clan techniques.

"Winner Daisuke"

(Naruto: Four weeks ago)

"Right! I'm totally ready for this!" Naruto said as he smacked his fist into his palm, "Don't feel bad losing to the future Hokage!"

I actually briefly considered letting him have this one but...I think things would work better if he actually respected my fighting ability.

"Hokage is still a ways away for now Naruto." I answer.

The orange-clad boy charged at me, fist raised back in a absolutely terrible punch that I could see coming a mile away.

I side stepped him and picked him up by the back of his shirt. The boy thrashed around in my grip until I gently deposited outside the ring.

"...winner Daisuke." Iruka called out in a rather embarrassed voice.

Naruto didn't talk to me for two weeks after that.

(Shikamaru: Three weeks ago)

"So, could we just do Janken instead?" Shikamaru asked.

I gave a shrug, "Sure." It wasn't like the boy would really participate in the spar anyways.

"Janken pon."

He went rock I went paper.

Shikamaru shrugged and stepped out of the ring.

"...no, that's not okay! Detention for both of you!"

Dang it.

(Unagi: Two weeks ago)

Unagi was actually one of the faster people in the class and I'd seen him pull off some pretty creative stuff in the spars so he might actually give me a bit of a challenge...if he wasn't so obviously terrified of me.

The boy stood across me and really looked like he'd rather face anyone else. In fact I think I heard him ask if he could fight Sasuke instead. I felt vaguely insulted. I mean I've only fractured one guy's ribs...and gave one of the other students a concussion...and dislocated another's shoulder...okay yes he might should be afraid.

But in my defense I've gotten a lot better at holding back lately.

I slowly walk towards him and place a hand on his shoulder. "You...can just step out of the ring."

"No. I can't." He said looking up at me, his eyes gaining a bit of steel.

Good on him.

I tightened my grip and pulled him off balance as I brought a foot around to sweep his legs from behind. He fell to the ground with a squawk and was a moment later was in an armbar.

"Winner: Daisuke"

(Chouji: One week ago)

Chouji looked a tad nervous about this.

"Hey. Sumo rules?" I asked the boy across from me.

A smile came to his face. "I'm good with that."

The two of us got down and charge at each other.

It was then I found out that you apparently never want to challenge an Akimichi to a sumo match. Apparently their clan would have matches whenever they got together, it was sort of the family sport.

I was on my back outside the ring about thirty seconds after we started.

"Winner: Chouji."  
-

"Hey mom?" I ask from my place across her desk. "Do you know the meanings of the symbols for any other seals?"

It had been a while since I had finally learned how to make a storage seal and I had actually made about thirty of things and they all worked like how they were meant to. All of said scrolls were then taken and sold by Dad, who in turn gave me a fairly sizable amount of pocket change.

I hadn't spent any of the money yet though. I tended to hoard my money for big purchases.

Regardless, there was a big part of me that really wanted to learn a few other seals, if I could. The storage scrolls alone were bizarrely useful and I would probably make myself more than a few soon.

"I know a few more." Mom said from her place behind the desk, "But I had something else in mind for a lesson today."

Atsuko and I looked at eacher for a moment, our faces hiding excitement. It had been a while since Mom gave us what she would actually call a lesson, and when she did give one it was usually something very eye-opening or useful.

...man, Atsuko and I are a bunch of nerds.

"You're both able to do the leaf-sticking exercise, right?" Mom asked.

The leaf-sticking exercise was a training technique where one placed a leaf on their forehead and tried to make it stick there with the force of one's chakra alone. It was both an exercise in chakra control as well as focus.

The exercise had taken me a few weeks to get down but I eventually got there. Atsuko got it on the second day.

"Yes ma'am." We chorused.

"Good. Then you are ready to learn this." Mom said as she placed some paper on the desk.

This particular paper was a kind I recognized. It was what some people called "sealing paper" but was more accurately called "chakra treated paper". The trees that made this particular paper got regular infusions of chakra and was treated with several other techniques in order to make the paper more easily accept chakra and seals. The paper was worth quite a bit.

Mom then reached to the side of her desk where she kept a letter opener, which she picked up and used to-holy crap she's cutting her hand with it!

I let out a slight squeaking sound as Atsuko gives a cry of "Mom!"

"Calm down you two." She says as she places the letter opener down as a few drops of blood begin to pool in her palm. "This is on purpose. Now I don't actually need blood to do this, ink works fine, but blood, specifically your own blood, is the easiest medium to do this with."

"Do what?" Atsuko asks.

"This." Mom says with a slight smile on her face as she slams her hand onto the chakra paper. A moment later the red of Mom's blood sprang out across the paper, weaving itself in shapes so quickly I have trouble keeping up with it. But less than a second after slamming her hand down, a perfect storage seal appeared on the paper. The red of her blood slowly turning black

I could only gape. The ability to instantly make a seal...and I was going to get to learn it.

"That's so cool!" Atsuko shouted as she stared at the seal in wonder.

"Isn't it?" Mom asked happily, "The good news is that once you become good at it with blood you won't have to use blood anymore and you can just use ink and chakra treated paper. Though if you get _really_ good with this you'll be able to make seals on any surface with just your chakra alone."

I stared at the seal for a moment longer before I noticed something, "Isn't that...smaller than most storage seals?"

The seal was about half the size of most of the storage seals I'd seen or have made. Mom always made a big deal about the measurements of a seal being right but clearly there was some leeway here, unless Mom just decided to cut herself and ruin a perfectly good sheet of chakra treated paper for no reason.

"Good eye Daisuke-kun." Mom said as she indicated the page, "As long as all the proportions are the same a seal will still function the same regardless of size. When you are shaping the ink, or blood for that matter, with your chakra you can scale down the size of the seal far easier than with a brush."

Sweet shining sprinkles that was ungodly useful. The things you could Munchkin with that was...huge.

"So after you two manage to learn this I'll be giving you both a reward."

Really? That was unusual for her. Mom didn't really hand out rewards often. That's not to say she didn't ever give us anything, it's just that she tended to give stuff just because she felt like it and not because of any accomplishment on our own. She usually just rewarded accomplishments with words of congratulations.

"Oh oh! What is the reward? Money? Our own sealing kits? An official license?" Atsuko asked excitedly.

A license? Where did that come from? A license requirement for pretty much anything was pretty rare here.

"I'm going to teach you both the seal I understand best. The exploding tag."

An absolutely manic grin spread its way across my face as I thought of all the _possibilities_. This was **fantastic! **It felt like someone Christmas, my birthday, and New Years all wrapped into one.

"...Daisuke...stop...that smile looks really creepy." Atsuko said as she slowly inched away from me.

"Shut-up. You're lucky I'm not laughing maniacally." I said while the giant smile still hadn't left my face.

"Hey, Uchiha-san!" I called after the young boy, trying to get his attention as school let out for lunch.

"What?" He asked me, regarding me with a look I couldn't quite decipher.

"I was wondering if you could help me." I started. I left a moment of silence for Sasuke to respond but he didn't seem inclined to. Deciding to take that as a sign to keep talking I continued, "I want to know if you'll help me with my taijutsu. You are the most talented taijutsu user in the class and I could use your help. Just a few sentences on some weakness you've noticed I have would be helpful."

Wow that is not a nice expression.

The look on Sasuke's face probably means the Uchiha thinks I'm a special kind of stupid.

"You're wasting my time." The boy said before getting up and leaving the room.

"...I'll take that as a 'maybe later', then." I mutter to myself.

Shino, Naruto, and I sat in our usual lunch spot under the trees. I'm not sure what had changed, but Naruto eventually decided he wanted to eat with us everyday and he was let into the group. Shino was pretty begrudging about it at first but he was growing okay with the situation. I wouldn't call Naruto and Shino friends but they could tolerate each other decently well.

I can't stop myself from heaving a sigh as I stare into my bento, as if it might actually contain the answers I'm looking for.

Sasuke was being problematic. He wasn't giving me the time of day and I couldn't seem to do anything to reach him.

How had Naruto managed to reach him in the manga?

Wasn't it because...of the loneliness? He did it because, on some level, he respected Naruto for having and going through the same loneliness he had.

If that was the case...then there was a good possibility that I CAN'T help Sasuke. The only one that could would be Naruto.

This was feeling uncomfortably like fate.

"Naruto." I say, catching the boy's attention. "I'm going to ask you to do something again."

"Ugh." Naruto groaned as he flopped his head back against the tree he was leaning on. "You aren't going to ask me to try and befriend the stuck up bastard again are you?"

I would if I thought that would actually work. But no, Sasuke had bought into his brother's command to 'run, be alone, and hate'. He wasn't going to accept a friend, so I'll have to go another option.

"Only sort of, but I don't want you to try and befriend him." Naruto sat up a bit and looked at me with interest, "I want you to bug the hell out of him. Prank him, antagonize him, get in his face, and force him to recognize your presence."

"Now THAT I can do!" Naruto said as he got to his feet, "I already have a bunch of ideas."

Naruto let out a cackling laugh as he went away from us, presumably to complete the task I gave him.

"I don't think that was wise. Why? Because Sasuke doesn't have a very healthy mental state and Naruto could make him snap." Shino spoke up.

"Maybe. But Sasuke needs his status quo shaken up. He spends too much time brooding. I mean, you can even see him brooding while he's training. He isn't focusing on the here and now, he's thinking about what happened." I answer as I take out a stick of pocky, "And if anyone can make Sasuke focus on what's directly in front of him it's Naruto."

Silence falls between us as I slowly consumed the pocky, my mind repeating itself over and over as I hope I made the right choice. Because even if Sasuke does snap...well he was probably going to anyways.

"You put a lot of faith in Naruto." Shino states.

"I do." I acknowledge with a nod.

"Why? He isn't particularly skilled. His social skills are subpar. He is also impatient and abrasive."

I give another nod. "Yes, all that is true."

"Then why?"

I don't think that Shino will accept the excuse that I read in a previous life that he would be the most powerful man of his generation. So I went for something else. "Naruto has known a pain that few can comprehend which gives him an amazing ability to sympathise with people, and he has a boundless determination that would put him at the head of our class if someone could direct it the right way. Plus, he's going to be Hokage."

"You...actually believe that he will be Hokage?"

I regard Shino seriously as I answer without hesitation. "Yeah. I do...unless he dies first."

"I shall...think on that." Shino answered as he looked off to where Naruto went.

I wasn't expecting this so soon but...it would be good if his classmates began to respect Naruto. I just hope that in doing this I'm not throwing off the timeline TOO much.

Not that I'm clinging to that theory very much anyways.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on!" Atsuko whined at me, "You have to have SOME trick for getting it faster than me!"

"There's no trick." I responded, "You just put your chakra in the same shape as the seal. I can't tell you anything else."

Atsuko seemed to having a problem internalizing the fact that I was better in a single aspect of seals than her. Which was understandable considering that she was better at seals than me in every other sense that we know of.

It has been a week since Mom started to teach us how to make a seal out of our own chakra and blood. For the first few days Atsuko was ahead of me. Her superior chakra control allowing her to almost immediately get the blood to go in a vaguely storage seal like shape. I, on the other hand, took several hours to get to that level. However the rate we progressed from there was noticeably different.

Atsuko seemed to have a problem getting the seals exactly right when she was forging them with her chakra. There was always a little line here or there that was just a little bit off. Nothing really big, but it was always enough that it would destabilize the seal if we were foolish enough to attempt to use it.

On the other hand I managed to actually forge the seal with my blood several times perfectly and Mom was talking about moving me on to ink.

"Come on! There's gotta be something!" Atsuko whined.

She really wasn't taking it well.

"Well..." I started, trying to think of some sort of suggestion to give her, "How are shaping your chakra to manipulate the blood?"

"I'm doing what Mom told us to do." Atsuko said with an eyeroll, "I'm pushing it into the blood and then pulsing it out in the shape of the seal."

"Right. But how are you pulsing it out?" I'm...not really sure where I'm taking this but I'm hoping something she says will trigger something for me to be able to actually give some useful advice.

"I'm shaping in the form of the seal from the inside out." She answered.

That probably wasn't a bad way to do it but...

"Have you tried pushing it out in one direction and then work it around clockwise?" I suggest.

"But that would be slower."

"Yeah but its easier to construct this seal that way. It flows clockwise and the details are easier to grab going around that way. Its better to get to be a bit slower and get it right than to not be getting it at all. You can just learn to make it from the center out as you get better with going clockwise." I suggest.

"Oh..." Atsuko said as she bit her lip in thought. "I'll...try that when we get home."

"That's the attitude." I say as I give her a little pat on the shoulder.

Plus the girl would probably still end up learning the exploding tag faster than me. Mom started me on learning it and it was a slow going process, though there actually WAS progress since Mom's starting with teaching me the meaning by each of the seals.

But hey, in a few months I'd be able to make exploding tags!

That thought alone could always bring a smile to my face.

"...could you...run that by me again?" Atsuko asked as she stared at the grown Hyuuga man that was currently bending at almost a ninety degree angle in the steepest bow I'd seen from anyone before.

"I repeat. The honorable Ayasugi-sama and her family are formally invited to attend Hinata-sama's Awakening Ceremony in the Hyuuga estate next Sunday." The man again repeated from his position as a blushing Hinata nervously poked her fingers together.

I knew Hinata and Atsuko had really gotten close but I hadn't quite realized it was to this extent and what that might mean. This was actually...pretty huge. We were being invited, as a family, into the Hyuuga compound to observe a ceremony. That pretty much never happened as far as I'd ever heard. Though it might not be as big of a deal as I thought it was; I didn't even know what an Awakening Ceremony was.

My guess was this was an official thing recognizing Hinata activating her Byakugan.

That...might be it. Though I feel like they wouldn't hold that in as big of a deal as they were holding this.

"Oh. That's what I thought you said. Um, sure. We'll be there."

I heaved a sigh and cuffed Atsuko on the back of her head.

"Ow, hey!" She shouted.

I ignored her as I put myself in the deepest bow I could manage towards the Hyuuga (branch member I was pretty sure, he was covering his forehead).

"The Ayasugi clan formally thanks you for the invitation. We will have to discuss this with our honored parents, but we will be more than happy to give our answer to Hyuuga Hinata-sama tomorrow. We apologize for the delay." I say to the man, my eyes locked on the ground beneath me.

"I shall communicate your words to my own clan leaders." The man said before straightening himself. He gave a small bow to Hinata and Atsuko in turn, "Hinata-sama. Ayasugi-sama. I must excuse myself."

I straightened myself and watched the man go, a small frown on my face. This wreaked of having too much politics involved and my family was probably going to end up smack dab in the middle of it. I should probably talk with Shino about this. He knows about all this clan s-

**Pain!  
**  
I stumbled to the side, my cheek red from an impact.

Who hit me? The only person that could have was...

"Atsuko! The hell!?"

The girl had a scowl on her face, "You hit me first!"

"That was much harder! And in the face!" I yelled back.

"Psh. Suck it up. You're a shinobi aren't you?" She asked before turning to Hinata with a smile, "So come on! Tell me about this Awake thingy!"

I stared at the two for a moment as my mind still caught up with what happened as Hinata was escorted away by my sister.

"It wasn't really a very strong blow." Came Shino's voice from beside me.

I have absolutely NO idea when he got there and I really stopped questioning him popping up by my side. It apparently made him depressed to find out he wasn't noticed.

Which...I thought was a bit counterintuitive for a ninja but whatever.

"You've shrugged off worse in spars." Shino continued.

"...It's the principle of the thing."  
-

I had spent most of the day thinking on the possible implications of our invitation to the Hyuuga household but I couldn't come up with anything new and none of my ideas quite seemed to be right. It wasn't coming of age, it wasn't New Years or Hinata's birthday anytime soon, and I don't think they'd make such a big deal about Hinata's Byakugan activating.

I think Atsuko knew the reason for the ceremony but she staunchly refuses to tell me as we walk back from school.

"Mom!" Atsuko called as we approached our home, "We've been invited to Hinata's house!"

Atsuko's cry caused me to look up to catch a glimpse of Mom sitting on the ground in our yard, beside her wheelchair. For the last few months Mom had suddenly taken to working in the yard whenever we got home and she's since become very serious about making sure we never step on the grass.

She seemed a bit bizarrely passionate about it and I'm not sure what triggered the sudden change.

I heaved a sigh behind her. Atsuko just didn't seem to catch on what a big deal it was that this was happening. The Hyuuga were currently the most powerful clan in the village and the most formal. There was no way that we would show up to find a bouncy castle and a pinata. No, we'd get formal wear and sitting around not doing anything for long periods of time.

The only thing Atsuko would be happy about in that would be being able to dress up fancy.

"Wait..." Mom said from her place on the lawn, a frown appearing on the woman's face, "Did you just say we have all been invited to the Hyuuga estate?"

"Yep!" Atsuko chirped.

"...I think you two need to sit down with your father and me and have a long talk on what exactly happened." Mom said as she stood up faster than a one legged woman had any right to.

Thank goodness my parents realized that this was big.

"And that's all they said?" Dad asked from his spot at the table.

As soon as we had come inside Mom had gone to grab Dad and then the two sat us down at the table and asked Atsuko to say what happened. Then they asked me to say what happened after Atsuko left several holes in the story.

"Yep. That was it." I answered.

"And you're sure they said _this_ Sunday?" Mom asked seriously.

"Um...yeah." I answered.

Dad let out a scoffing sound as he leaned back in his chair. "And the politics have already begun."

"Huh?" Atsuko asked.

"They're snubbing us." Dad answered as he ran a hand over his head, "In such a formal setting it's polite to give at least two weeks advanced notice. We might have been invited, but at least some of the people don't want us there, so we were invited on short notice."

Oh. That sort of nuanced politics games. I always found those interesting...as long as I could stay out of it. A direct and forward manner was usually best in my opinion...at least when dealing with allies.

"Now we'll have to show up to the party about ten minutes late." Dad said in annoyance.

"Er...why?" I asked.

"If we show up early, or even right on time, it will makes us look like morons that didn't realize we were being snubbed. Now we have to show up a bit late and apologize saying that we would have been able to be more on time had we been given more advance warning."

"That's dumb." Atsuko said flatly.

"It's what you have to do if you want a clan to respect you. You have to play their game." Mom said from her position at the table.

Dad pushed himself away from the table with a sigh while muttering, "This is exactly why I stay away from the clan crap." Before turning to me and saying, "I'm going to the forge. Daisuke, come with me. I have something to teach you."

Something to teach me? Maybe the folded metal thing I've seen him working on lately. It looked rather interesting and I had been able to produce some swords Dad qualified as "not bad".

Though I had to ask one thing first before I left, "Hey, what's an Awakening Ceremony?"

"It's a coming of age celebration." Mom said, "They aren't often celebrated anymore and it's only a big deal with the larger clans."

"Coming of age?" I asked, "But it wasn't her birthday or-"

"Daisuke!" My father called.

"Coming!" I yelled as I ran towards him. I'd have to have my question answered later.

I came into the forge to find Dad tending to coals when I walked in. The fire was actually pretty mild at the moment, no flame being produced but the rocks distorting the air around it with heat.

"So what am I learning today?"

"Today I'm going to teach you the first and most important technique of the Ayasugi family. Our ancestors called it  
the Flame Body."

The flame body?

Was...was I getting taught how to plunge my hand into fire and not get hurt? Yes please!

"Where do we start?" I asked, a smile so wide it actually hurt my cheekbones a bit.

"You know the seals?" My father asked.

I simply gave a nod. I'd always payed attention when dad ran through the seals for the technique and had honestly been going through them alone in my room for years.

Not putting chakra into it of course. I'm not stupid.

"Okay. So with this technique you want to gather your chakra on the top layer of skin of the areas you want protected as you simultaneously weave your chakra with the seals."

That was actually not going to be too hard. When making hand signs it isn't just the fact that you're hands are in a particular shape that makes the ninja magic work. It's the way your chakra flows between your hands that causes a hand sign to have effect. The point where most techniques become difficult is that you have to weave your chakra in the sign, while simultaneously shaping your chakra in another part of your body.

This particular technique will be fairly easy if I just keep it to my hands, since I'm putting chakra into my hands anyways.

"So...this can be used for the whole body? Or just the hands?" I asked.

"You only really need it for your hands, but you can use it with your whole body. It will protect you from all kinds of fire as well as heat." My dad answered.

"So, if its a really sunny day out, I can use this technique and I'd feel just fine?"

"Yeah. You could stand in the afternoon sun in Suna and feel just fine."

Oh this technique just got so much better.

"So...just do the handsigns? How do we tell if I got it right?" I asked.

Dad steps to the side and glances at the forge. "How do you think?"

Oh.

Well...this was going to be painful.

I pulled again at the decorative collar at my neck. I really hate the things.

"Stop it!" My mother ordered as we all walked to the Hyuuga compound.

I frowned but obeyed the order.

My entire family was dressed in incredibly formal kimonos that apparently this event called for. I wasn't particularly fond of the idea since the very formal kimono wear included something like seven layers of clothing. Though I do admit that we looked good. Dad and I were clothed primarily in grey and black colors but we also had a few articles of clothing colored a fire red. The outfits made me think of a hot coal in our forge that's fiery red glowed from the center. Which...was probably the idea.

Mom and Atsuko were quite a bit more colorful though. Mom's kimono was mostly colored in a bright yellow buy the kimono switched to a deep black in several parts and had a floral print along the bottom. Atsuko however was dressed in a sky blue kimono that was decorated with a multitude of pink and pale yellow flowers and had just a touch of deep black at the bottom of the outfit. The two women were also wearing makeup. Which...I think this was the first time I'd seen them do that.

All four of us also had Dad's blacksmith symbol sewn into some part of the outfit.

I was still very surprised that we managed to get these outfits on such short notice. Though I suspect Mom might have dropped some serious cash to get at the head of the seamstress's to-do list.

Mom and Dad had also spent the last few days going over proper etiquette and the formalities we'll probably be expected to observe while here. I was actually rather surprised that it was mostly Dad that was doing the teaching on the formalities. I'd expect Mom to be the one more experienced in that area.

_So that's what the outside of the Hyuuga compound looks like.  
_  
Up ahead of us stood the high walls of the Hyuuga estate. I could just barely see the roofs of various building peeking over the wall. More important than that though was the large wooden gate set into the stone wall and the two Hyuuga standing guard outside it.

The two men outside the compound gave us a slight bow as we approached. "Welcome, Ayasugi clan." One of them said while the other began to open the gate, "If you would step inside, someone will come to collect you shortly."

The four of us gave a small bow to the man before stepping inside the gate, allowing us to get a full view of the estate.

The place was, in a word, beautiful. There was large amounts of open space which was often filled with gardens of beautiful blooming flowers or rock gardens. The buildings were of a very old and traditional Japanese style but everything looked fresh and new.

It also seemed well protected. Every fifteen meters or so there'd be a Hyuuga guard standing a bit from the wall, seemingly staring at the brick if you didn't know what the Byakugan was.

"Honored guests." A voice said causing me to glance over in surprise at an older man approaching us, his forehead was also completely uncovered, showing himself to be of the main house.

I hadn't noticed him heading towards us at all.

"Hyuuga Hideyoshi-sama." Dad greeted the man with a bow, "I apologize for our lateness. We were not given much time to prepare and it didn't give the seamstress much time to finish."

We actually had the cloths yesterday, but something was more interesting than that. Dad knew who this man was on sight. So...he either knew the man personally, the guy was a famous jonin, or he was important in the Hyuuga clan.

"Hada-san." The man responded, causing my father's face to freeze before giving a very obviously fake smile.

Ouch. This was in a formal setting and the man should have, at the least, called him Ayasugi-san if Dad didn't give him permission to call him by his first name.

"I didn't expect to see a member of the Ayasugi clan at such a prestigious function again. My, how fortunate this is." The older Hyuuga intoned.

"Yes," My father continued without missing a beat, "The Ayasugi don't often have the time to socialize, what with our prosperous business. However I am glad to take a break to, as you said, bring you fortune."

I glanced at Dad in surprise. That was some serious sass.

The Hyuuga in front of us didn't seem to react to the words at all though. The man's face might as well have been made of stone.

"Indeed. We are fortunate, or at the least the young Hinata-sama is. Now if you would be so kind as to follow me." The man said as he turned around and lead us further into the compound towards an expansive garden that seemed to have a table set out with a decorative cloth draped over it and a dozen or so Hyuuga sitting at the table.

All of the people at the table, save one, had their foreheads full exposed with no seal in sight.

These were apparently the important people.

I didn't recognize most of them, though I was pretty sure that the guy at the head of the table was Hiashi and the very young girl sitting next to him was Hanabi.

_No girl of that age should be able to sit that still._ I thought as I glanced at the young Hanabi.

Hideyoshi approached the table, announcing " The Ayasugi Clan." Before taking an open place at the table and motioning us to take our own seats.

Now was the part where we'd have to sit for several hours in seiza.

Great.

As we took our seats Hizashi then nodded and made a waving motion off to the side.

Moments later Hinata appeared, dressed in a white kimono with a tea kettle in hand.

It was a tea ceremony too...though thankfully not of the most formal variety. Otherwise we'd have been taken to a room to stare a scroll for a while first. Which is good. I don't know that Atsuko has the patience for a chaji.

Still...it would be a while with us just sitting here watching as Hinata prepared the tea.

Finally the tea ceremony portion ended as Hinata collected the kettle and left back into the doorway she came from.

As she left the occupants of the table stood. Which fortunate since Atsuko was starting to get fidgety.

A moment later an older Hyuuga woman exited the door that Hinata just went into. And I do mean older. Her back was hunched, her hair was a stark white, and her face was wrinkled and spotted. She actually looked like she might be older than even the Third Hokage.

The woman's forehead was also covered.

"If you would follow me please for Hinata's demonstration of strength." The older woman said as she turned and slowly began to lead us to another part of the compound.

The trip was...incredibly quiet. I don't know if the Hyuuga normally have such little conversation with each other or they were just being quiet since we were here. Either way this really is no way to live.

The old woman led us to the largest open section of the estate I had seen yet.

The land was unnaturally flat and no tree not flower grew in the expanse which, by my estimate, was about five hundred feet in length and width. The only notably thing in the field besides grass seemed to be what looked like five...targets. If they were targets they were the smallest one's I'd ever seen, each one having a mere six inches diameter and held in the air on thin wooden poles that swayed in the breeze.

_A demonstration of strength? With these? What...is suppose to be shown here?  
_  
The old woman turned around and addressed the group, "We have gathered here to observe Hinata-sama's Awakening Ceremony. The tradition that all women of the great Hyuuga clan observe after their first blood."

_First blood? Did she kill someone?...Nah, that's not it. Then what does she mean first bloo-_

_Oh. Oooooooh. Well this is now just a bit awkward.  
_  
"Hinata-sama has completed two of her tasks. The task of allies gathered, in the form of our ancient allies, the Ayasugi clan. And the task of tradition shown by her tea ceremony."

_Ancient allies? Really going to have to remember to ask about that._

"And now," the woman says as she gestures to the side, where Hinata was approaching us in...a Kyudo outfit? "She will display her strength in the antient Hyuuga art of Kyujutsu, as many of her ancestors in the Main House practiced before her in the times before Konoha."

That was...new and different. For a multitude of reasons. For one, I'm not sure why I'm just now hearing that the Hyuuga apparently used bows and arrows once upon a time. Two this really isn't the tradition set up for Kyudo to my knowledge. Usually in Kyudo you stood right in front of the target and fired into it. Clearly that isn't what Hinata was planning to do here.

Hinata bowed lowly at us, a bow about half her height in one hand and her other hand resting on the quiver of arrows attached to a belt at her hip.

As she straightened she handed off her bow to the older Hyuuga woman before going thru a series of handsigns and gave a cry of "Byakugan!" followed by the veins around her eyes pulling and sticking out from the skin.

_That...really did look gross and vaguely disturbing._

Hinata then took back her bow before turning and facing the targets swaying in the breeze. Hinata slowly pulled out an arrow and placed it on the string and slowly drew back. It seemed that this was meant to be more a show of art than just being able to hit the target.

Though as she released the arrow, she showed she was perfectly capable of hitting the target as her arrow smacked into the dead center of the first swaying target.

"Woo!" Atsuko yelled as she clapped her hands together before slowly stopping as she realized everyone was staring at her. "Um...sorry."

Something about that moment seemed off to me though. That something unnatural was going on and I'm not quite sure what that thing is suppose to be. Something about how the arrow was launched was bugging me.

Hinata gave a reassuring smile at Atsuko before again notching an arrow and losing it to hit dead center of the next target. Hinata repeated the process two more times until there was only one target left out on the field. The one farthest away. Every time that Hinata fired I continued to have that nagging feeling that I was missing something about this.

Then two men, probably branch members, approached from the side carrying a large sheet of wood that looked to be about five feet wide and high. The two men stepped in front of the last target and raised the wood so that it completely blocked the last target from sight.

_So...is this suppose to be a show of power and she's suppose to shoot through the wood or is she-_

Hinata loosed another arrow, it sailed high through the air in a beautiful arc that took it over the obstacle between Hinata and the target.

The two branch members lowered the board to show Hinata's last arrow lodged in the upper right of the target. If the arrow had been even an inch to the right she would have missed the target, but she had still hit. And frankly, that was damn impressive.

It was then that it hit me what had been bothering me about each of Hinata's shots. I hadn't heard them.

I didn't hear the twang of the bow nor the sound of rushing air as the arrow flew.

It had been completely silent.

_Now...wasn't that interesting._

_My mind raced as my family, and the Hyuuga elders, approached Hinata.___

_There were so many different implications of what was going on and also what possible things I could do with a silent bow and arrows. With great struggle though I focused on the here and now, it was what was important. Hinata's ceremony was clearly not meant to be a celebration, but a proving. That now that Hinata was "a woman" she had to show she would be useful to the clan.___

_I hated the very idea of it.___

_You should never have to prove yourself to your family.___

_That didn't change that it was what was happening right now and I needed to help Hinata look good, and in turn make the Ayasugi look good.___

_Though really...I think Hinata managed to handle that mostly by herself. In my opinion anyways, though I don't know that what it is that the Hyuuga elders here would value.___

_Six of the Hyuuga, including Hiashi, huddled slightly together, speaking in soft tones as they walked towards Hinata. Almost everyone's eyes were on them.___

_"Hyuuga Hinata, first born of Hyuuga Hiashi." the oldest looking of the six began, "Today you have shown us much."___

_"You chose to break from tradition in the tea ceremony." Hideyoshi said in a neutral tone that I couldn't help but feel was condescending, "You also chose to ally with Ayasugi, a clan which has publicly announced values contrary to that of the Hyuuga."___

_Hinata's face had slowly grown more and more tense as they pointed out things that they apparently didn't approve of.___

_I sincerely hoped there was a "but" coming.___

_"However," an old Hyuuga woman started.___

_...close enough.___

_"What traditions you did observe in the tea ceremony were done with beauty and elegance. And while you may have disregarded the Hyuuga way there, you have shown a respect for the old ways. Rather than bring new strangers you bring old allies, even if we no longer see eye to eye with Ayasugi we have entrusted our lives to them in the past, and that deserves respect. Further, the two young Ayasugi have shown themselves to have great potential in their future." She continued.___

_"Further," Hiashi began, "You chose to display Kyujutsu rather than Juken. Since the Hyuuga have joined the village we have not once had a young Hyuuga display the art of the bow in their Awakening. In doing so, you have shown a great respect for the main house's old traditions."___

_"Thus," The old man that first spoke again stepped forward, "We, who lead the great and powerful Hyuuga do acknowledge you, Hyuuga Hinata, as a woman of the Hyuuga clan."___

_Hinata looked almost as though she were ready to collapse on the spot as she bowed at the waste to those in front of her as she let out a quiet "Thank you."___

_The six Hyuuga simply nodded back and turned around to walk back into the estate...or rather where the building were on the estate.___

_"Way to go Hinata!" Atsuko's voice yelled out as she did a...flying glomp. Hinata barely managed to keep herself from falling over.___

_"A-atsuko!" Hinata said in surprise.___

_"You always know how to show yourself with elegance and grace." I said with a roll of my eyes.___

_Atsuko's wonderfully mature response was to stick her tongue out at me.___

_The sound of soft laughter made me turn to see the old branch house woman walking over to us a small smile on her face. "I see the Ayasugi are the same as ever."___

_"Honoka-san." My father greeted as he bowed slightly to the woman, "It's a pleasure to see you again."___

_"And you as well, Hada-chan. I don't think I've seen you or your lovely wife since the wedding."___

_Hada-chan? Really?___

_Plus...she was at their wedding?___

_"Eh? You know Dad?" Atsuko asked, her arm still around Hinata.___

_"Indeed." The woman said with a nod, "His grandfather was a student of mine."___

_...how old WAS this woman?___

_"I'm sorry we haven't had the chance to invite you over Honoka-san. Considering our last interaction with your nephew, we thought it...unwise to associate much with someone of the Branch." Came Mom's voice.___

_"It's alright Sumi-chan." The woman said with a wave of her hand, "If I didn't think it was a good idea I would have come knocking on the door anyways."___

_Dad let out a small laugh with a shake of his head, "I'm sure you would have. Though thanks to Hinata-chan here, I don't think we have an excuse anymore."___

_"Indeed you don't." Honoka said as she bowed her head slightly to Hinata, "Thank you for that Hinata-sama."___

_"Oh! It was nothing." Hinata said as a blush came to her face and she shook her head, "You are the one that I need to thank. You helped me with the bow and taught me what to do. I...wouldn't have succeeded without you. Thank you." Hinata said as she bowed at a perfect ninety degrees.___

_A steeper bow than she had given the elders.___

_"Straighten up." Honoka rebuked, "You have no business bowing to a branch member."___

_"But-"___

_"Straighten up! Bowing will only make both of us look bad."___

_Slowly Hinata straightened back into a standing position.___

_"Now, why don't you go out to celebrate? Have Hada-chan here treat you."___

_"You know." Dad said with a raised eyebrow as he looked down at the woman, his larger form dwarfing her, "I think I'm a little old for the 'chan'."___

_Honoka let out a snort, "When you get to be over one-hundred, pretty much everyone seems to be as a small child."___

_This...was a very odd woman. Though that might just come with being over one-hundred and a ninja.___

_Wait...that means she was alive through every shinobi world war...and actually experienced the clan war days.___

_That...was really impressive actually.___

_"So, what do you say to getting some sweets, hm?" Mom asked as she looked towards Hinata and Atsuko.___

_"Yes!"/"If...it's alright."___

_Oh, I was definitely on board for that.__  
__-___

_The five of us were a bit overdressed for the cake shop we went into, but the decision felt...appropriate.___

_I had gotten this little cake that heavily featured oranges. It was delightfully tangy along with the sweet. It came with this vanilla milk that really seemed to compliment. I'd probably have to come here again.___

_"See! Aren't you glad I got you to do the bow and arrow stuff! I told you it would be great!" Atsuko's said between the bites of her chocolate cake with chocolate chips in it and a chocolate frosting.___

_I wonder if they'd allow me to get any of the recipes from...___

_Wait...what did Atsuko just say?___

_"Atsuko...you were the one that got her to do the bow and arrow?" I asked in surprise.___

_"Oh. Yeah! Like...last year she mentioned she wanted to do it and I got her to go for it!" Atsuko said as she gave a thumbs up.___

_So...maybe that's why Hinata never used one in series? It was actually just Atsuko that convinced her...maybe.___

_Though that did remind me.___

_"Hinata, how did you do the silent shots?" I asked.___

_Hinata glanced over in surprise, apparently not having been expecting the question. "Oh. Um...part of it is the bow and arrow design and what it's made of, but it's also partly a chakra technique. It actually doesn't work unless you have both."___

_Really? Well that answered some questions. Though it also probably meant it wasn't something I could learn. Which...wasn't too bad. I'm typically a mid to close range type person anyways.___

_"So did where did you guys get the bows?" I asked.___

_Hinata looked at me in surprise, "You don't know?"___

_"Noooooo." Its why I asked.___

_"The Ayasugi clan was the one that invented it." I glanced over to my dad in question. In response he just shrugged and replied, "I never made one, but it was our clan that gave the first one's to the Hyuuga. The Hyuuga joining Konoha was actually because the Ayasugi had promised that we'd teach them how to make the bows and arrows when they joined."___

_I...really need to get some facts from Dad on our clan's history apparently._

_It was the last year of childhood.___

_I'd already gotten one and had no real right to having this second one but a part of me felt bitter about the fact that I was one school-year away from again being an adult.___

_No. Not just an adult, but a soldier, something I hadn't ever been before.___

_It...was a bit understandable that I'd be bitter but...it also invigorated me as well. I'd have power beyond any that I had dreamed of previously, and more than that, I had a far more clear purpose.___

_It was when I could really begin to affect the world. To try and make the world more than the land of death it was now. The beginnings of my adventure was a year away, and it renewed me with a sense of focus and clarity.___

_That in turn was showing itself in the results of my training.___

_I was close to finally knowing how to make my own exploding tags, though progress was stalled as I made a different breakthrough in my fuinjutsu.___

_I could now use my blood to make a seal on everyday items. That alone wasn't enough to actually get me to take my focus away from mastering the exploding tag though. No, what got me so distracted was that I could know make storage seals that were a mere six inches wide.___

_Since then I'd taken to putting the seal EVERYWHERE.___

_Every single set of clothing that I owned now had a storage seal set in the pockets and all long sleeve shirts now had them on the inside of the sleeve.___

_It would be more impressive if I didn't use them to mostly store useless crap. Sure I had a fair number of kunai, shuriken, and a few senbon on me. But the rest of it most pretty much just random crap I picked up throughout my day.___

_I occasionally had to empty them out just to see what I had put inside them before putting what I wanted back in them.___

_"What are you doing?" Atsuko said, causing me to glance up at her from my spot on my bed.___

_"Just putting some things in my seals before we go to school." I answered as I poofed an ink brush into the seal at my right wrist.___

_Atsuko rolled her eyes. I think she was still sore that I had progress in making seals without a paintbrush so much faster than her. Atsuko still needed to use chakra paper and ink to make the seals. Though she could also make something like fifty seals at this point though.___

_"Do you really need all of this junk though?" She asked as she walked into the room and stared at my accumulated items. Her eyes momentarily fell on a long length of rope before traveling to another item. "I mean, a towel? Really?"___

_"I'll have you know that a towel is one of the most useful things a ninja could have." I responded as a smile almost split my face.___

_"You don't even remember what you are keeping in all of them. It's not like you could immediately go for what you want at a moment's notice."___

_"...that's fair." I really should become more organized with this but I felt my current method worked for the time being.___

_"Just...get done soon. It's almost time to go." Atsuko said with a sigh before leaving my room.___

_"Yes ma'am!" I called after her, grabbing the rest of my stuff and shoving it in random pockets.___

_Organization was something I needed to work on though. It tended to be a weakness of mine. I COULD do it, I just didn't naturally organize is all.___

_Which...might be something that could get me killed one day.___

_Such happy thoughts for the first day of the last year of school.__  
__-___

_"Hey Shino. Did you enjoy your break?" I asked the Aburame as I took my usual seat beside him.___

_"It was pleasantly productive." Shino responded, "Your own?"___

_"It was good. I was finally deemed good enough at the Flame Body to use it with molten metal...with supervision and short periods of time. Plus I've learned how to take a very useful fuinjutsu technique and use it for pretty much useless and asinine reasons."___

_"That is...good." Shino said as he shifted slightly away from me.___

_The sealing arts weren't exactly safe and saying you were screwing around with it was a pretty good way to make most ninja uncomfortable.___

_I was well aware of this fact and tended to use it to my advantage...or at least my amusement.___

_I glanced at the empty seat next to me and heaved a sigh of frustration. Naruto being late on the first day wasn't at all surprising but it was still a bit irksome at how often it happened. The fact that THAT bothered me really made me hope I don't get Kakashi as a teacher. I was a patient person but it happening ALL THE TIME would be irritating.___

_"Hello class!" Came Iruka's voice as he entered the room, causing the class to stand at once and bow to the man, giving our own greeting in return.___

_"It's good to see you all again." Iruka said with a smile, "So, this is your last year and I have a few announcements. The first is one that I'm sure many of you already know about. The final year in the Academy we have the class split into two teams for a series of mock combats that take place four times throughout the year."___

_I had heard about that. The class had two teams duke it out in the forest nearby using weapons coated in paint. Getting paint on you was considered a "death". You were scored on an individual and team basis, scoring points based on your "kills" and capturing the enemy's flag.___

_It was the thing that most Academy students looked forward to about the third year.___

_I had to admit that the prospect excited me too, assuming I can get on a good team. Ideally I'd like to have a team with Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata on it. Though I doubt any one team would get to have all of them.___

_"What you all DON'T know is who is going to be the two team leaders this year." Iruka said, drawing everyone's attention to the front. "The first leader is Uchiha Sasuke."___

_There was an eruption of female cheers and male groans.___

_I personally wasn't surprised. They pick the leaders based on merit, and Sasuke was number one in quite a few subjects and had a strong enough personality that he could generally make students do what he wanted.___

_Not sure who the second would be though. Maybe Atsuko? Or Shino...___

_"The other is Ayasugi Daisuke." Iruka announced, causing a great deal of the room to erupt into a cacophony of noise that made it near impossible for me to tell who was saying what.___

_I also added into the noise as I gave an astonished, "Me? Why they hell did they pick me?"___

_Though even as I asked that I looked over to the other side of the room and let my gaze fall upon Sasuke.___

_Intense.___

_That was the only word I could use to describe Sasuke's gaze. His eyes were shone of resolve, anger, and a disdain for my very existence.___

_And I could only feel relief.___

_Relief because at that moment Sasuke didn't see through me. He was focused on the here and now with all his might, and not on Uchiha Itachi.___

_It was relieving...and terrifying.___

_"Settle down!" Iruka called from his place at the front. "I have one more announcement."___

_The class quickly quieted itself. Iruka's rage could be fairly frightening.___

_"The final year of the Academy is the most important, so this year I'm going to have some help. So I want you all to welcome Mizuki-sensei." Iruka said as he gestured to the side, showing the apparent Mizuki walking in.___

_My fear intensified.___

_I also had to worry about this psychotic SOB this year.___

_Greeeeeat.___

_The sound of a window opening made me look to the side to see...Naruto blatantly just stepping through the now open window and sitting down without fanfare.___

_Everyone in the classroom just stared as the perfectly calm blonde just took his seat and pretended nothing had happened.___

_"Come on sensei. You're holding up class." Naruto said.___

_"Don't take that attitude when you were the one late!" Iruka shouted.___

_Naruto crossed his arms and looked away, "I don't know what you are talking about."___

_"You literally just came in through the window! You weren't even trying to hide it!"___

_"I don't remember it that way...and you're wasting time sensei! We could be learning now." Naruto continued.___

_Iruka looked like he didn't know what to do with himself before he sighed and turned around. "Right. Naruto you have detention. Class open the chakra theory books to page three."___

_I turned to the blonde and gave him a thumbs up. "Nice. A+ handling there. I honestly didn't expect it from you." I whispered.___

_"I thought I'd start the last year on a different note." He whispered back.___

_"...were you late just to do that?"___

_"...maybe."__  
__-___

_After school I rushed home and into the workshop.___

_I was in direct opposition to Uchiha Sasuke. That was not a safe place to be.___

_I needed to prepare myself better, and I think it was time I finally made something I had been meaning to for a while.___

_"Dad." I said as seriously as I could when my father came nto sight, causing the man to look up from where he was inspecting a new shipment of metals. "I need your help making something."___

_I placed a piece of paper on the table. I'd been drawing on it all day to get the design just right.___

_"Hmmmm." Dad said as he looked at it, "This is pretty unusual. You know that if you used this, some would call you a coward."___

_"I'd prefer to be called a coward than be a corpse."___

_"Good answer!" Dad said as he pushed the paper back towards me, "So, do you have a name for it?"___

_"Not this specific name of this piece, but I know what I'm going to call all the pieces like this." I say as I gazed down at the paper. On it were schematics for a piece of metal with three sharp points on the top and ended with a single sharp point on the bottom while there was a strap and a handle fitted on the back. Across the front of the metal was a __symbol__I felt was appropriate.___

_"It's called a heater shield."_


	6. Chapter 6

"Would you please hurry up?" I asked in exasperation, my foot tapping out a rapid cadence as I leaned back against the hallway's wall.

"Would you stop bugging me?" Came Atsuko's slightly muffled response through the bathroom door, "Eyeliner is hard!"

"How is it that you have absolutely perfect brush work but can't manage eyeliner?" It wasn't like she needed to be wearing make-up anyways. Not only was she just eleven, but she was about to be a ninja. She couldn't exactly worry about putting on her eyeliner while she was in the field.

"Just because you're nervous about how team placement pans out doesn't mean you should get snippy with me."

"...I'm not being snippy." I groused.

Though she was correct about the current reason for my...impatience.

I had known for a week that Sasuke and I had been selected for the two team leaders for the upcoming "Large scale mock wars" (or as I called it, Ninja Capture-the-Flag) but today was going to be the day that members of those teams were going to be decided. Who ended on what team was decided in a somewhat complicated manner. Half the class was automatically sorted by the sensei. This was done for a variety of reasons, though the most common one was to make people that always teamed up together be split up to see if they could function on their own (meaning Chouji and Shikamaru were almost definitely not on the same team). However the other half of the class got the opportunity to sign up for the team they wanted...and the teams didn't have to have an even number of people.

Apparently this was done to judge not just the leadership skills of Sasuke and I, but to also see the ability of the students to chose the side that they think would win, which would reflect on their own wisdom and tactical ability.

This morning the teams starting members would be posted and the other half of students allowed to sign up for their chosen team.

I would really like to get to the school early so that I might get anyone that was sitting on the fence to fall onto my side.

The only reason I hadn't left yet was because I knew most of the female population of the class wanted to be on Sasuke's team and Atsuko would be incredibly helpful in getting some of them to side with me. Atsuko understood the female mind far better than me for very obvious reasons.

Now Atsuko COULD have been putting on the make-up to have more influence with her peers but I rather felt it wouldn't make THAT much of a difference and it would be much better if the both of us were there right now.

"Finally!" I said as the bathroom door opened and Atsuko stepped out, and I peered at her face for a moment. "You can hardly even tell you're wearing makeup!"

"That's the point, little brother." She said with a roll of her eyes as she made her way down the hall.

I would never understand why women would spend such a significant amount of time to put on something that you can only notice if you are looking for it.

"Right! Let's go!" I called as I jogged ahead of Atsuko and to the door.

The two of us ran out the door and down the road. The path before us was well travelled and one we were both very familiar with. The two of us had travelled this road almost every day for the last five years and we knew most of the shops and people we'd pass on the way to school. So we always saw Isshin-san as he brought out that morning's fresh fish, Hibiki-san as he moved his ramen cart to it's spot near the path to the training fields, and Tsuru-san as she brought out that morning's produce.

Atsuko and I barely paid attention to them as we hurried on our way. Past Isshin as he brought out that morning's cod. Past Hibiki as he cart clanked down the road. And past Tsuru as she bent over picking up the apples that had spilled out over the road after one of her tables of produce had broken and spilt its contents on the well traveled ground.  
Stop  
I didn't have time to pay attention to them. My grade, and the grades of everyone that would be assigned under me, could be drastically changed by just getting one more person to change their mind in the next ten minuets. Those grades in turn would decide our careers and what we would do with our lives.  
Go back  
Letting myself get distracted with other things would clearly be foolish.  
It's the right thing to do  
I heave a sigh and stop in my tracks, causing my twin to slow herself and look over to me.

"Atsuko. Go ahead of me. See how many people you can switch over to my side." I asked.

Atsuko didn't even ask what it was that I was doing. She simply nodded and kept going with a cry of "I won't let you down!"

I turned around and jogged back a small ways before bending over to pick up several apples that had landed on the ground. "Here. Let me help."

Now, Tsuru-san was a woman that seemed to be in her mid-forties and single-handedly ran her produce stand. It was fairly impressive for a woman with one arm.

Tsuru was never a ninja. She hadn't lost her arm to any sort of attack. She'd just been on a hike and there'd been a rockslide.

No one really to blame. Just bad luck and nothing to be pitied over. Anyone who did try and take pity on her usually got an ear lashing since it wasn't often that the woman ever made many mistakes when it came to how she ran her stall.

"It's alright. I can manage." Tsuru said as she continued to pick up her fallen wares.

"Of that I have no doubt." I replied as I flashed the woman a smile, "But what kind of man would I be if I left such a beautiful woman to kneel in the dirt?"

"Weren't you just rushing by in a big hurry just a bit ago? I think you have better things to do." Tsuru asked with her eyes narrowed.

"I was rushing earlier, yeah. But that doesn't mean this isn't important."  
Correct  
"Well...you are Hada-san's kid right? Think you can fix my table while I pick all this up?" She asks.

"It would be my pleasure." I answer truthfully.

I had jogged into the classroom, stepping inside just after the clock struck for time to begin class. As a result I never got the chance to find out the team spread before class began and I had to help Iruka-sensei move equipment during lunch as punishment for being late.

The boxes all seemed to contain copious amounts of blunted kunai and shuriken, as well as several buckets of paint.

So much paint that I was briefly worried that Naruto would manifest nearby just for the pranking potential alone.

Iruka mostly seemed satisfied to have small talk as we worked, only occasionally telling me what he wanted me to do. I tried to give polite responses when he said something, but the same question kept repeating in my head again and again. A big part of me didn't want to ask it, but most of me was just too curious.

"Why am I a team leader?" I finally asked.

"Why do you think?" Iruka asked as he answered my question with a question. (Stupid socratic method.)

It wasn't because of tactics. I'm pretty sure several other people in the class got some better test results in the tactics class than me. I'm also fairly certain that it wasn't because I'm the only one that's managed to beat Sasuke in a spar. So maybe...

"I have the second highest overall grade in the class?" I had intended it as a statement, though as I said it It just seemed to form into a question.

"Nope. Actually, you don't even have the second highest overall score in the class." Iruka answered.

I didn't? Dang it. I'd been aiming for that.

"Now, it's worth mentioning that this decision is made by all of the faculty, not just me, but I can tell you why I voted for you to get the position." Iruka said as he sat down one of the boxes we had been moving. "I actually have two reasons. The first being your tactics exams."

"But...I don't even have the best grade in tactics." I said as my eyebrows furrowed. (That honor actually went to Haruno Sakura)

"True." Iruka agreed with a nod, "But that's just a grade on a paper. Sakura always answers the questions right, and usually exactly how it's said in your books. In fact, most of the class tends to give answers along the same lines, picking up from what we went over in class and what the book suggests. You are one of the exceptions. You have a tendency to think differently than many of your classmates, and that can make for a brilliant tactician."

"...or just one that doesn't understand his enemy or his own men."

Iruka lets out a kind laugh as he scratches the back of his head, "You got me there. But that really doesn't apply to you because of the second reason I nominated you."

I simply looked at the older man with a raised eyebrow.

"Daisuke, you command more loyalty than anyone else in the classroom." Iruka said as he locked his eyes onto my own.

What? No. No way.

"I don't think Sasuke's brigade of fans would agree with you." I said dubiously.

Iruka shook his head. "That's not loyalty. That's admiration at best, though its better called puppy love. And sure, Sasuke is very charismatic when he wants to be, and he probably has more pull in the classroom than any other student in the room. All of the guys in the room may not like him, but they do respect him. But you have something Sasuke hasn't got."

"...friends?" It was a low blow, but it wasn't without truth. Sasuke had no friends in the class, and stood alone on his pedestal.

"Not quite what I was getting at either, but it's close." Iruka said with a shake of his head, "You don't just have friends. You have people around you that are willing to fight with you on something, even if they don't agree with it themselves. Your cause becomes their cause and their ready to fight beside you."

"But...that's just what friends are for." I say in confusion.

"And that's exactly why I wanted you to lead."

As soon as class ended I immediately headed out the classroom door to see how the teams were stacking up. On the wall beside the door sat two sheets of paper held in place by four metal pins, one in each corner. Across the top of the one on the left said "Blue Team" and the other had a header saying "Red Team". Both pages then had a fairly long list of names. The first nine names on each sheet written in the same script as the header; those whose team was decided for them.

A quick glance told me that the very first name on the paper to the left was my own. It also told me something I really didn't want to know. Beneath the first nine names on Blue Team were six more names. The Red Team had twelve more names. That made for 15 to 21.

My team was outnumbered.

Badly.

Okay. So I don't have the numbers advantage. That's okay. There had many battles throughout history where a smaller force managed to take out a larger one.

The question is who was in each team. A few in particular were very important.

First Atsuko.

Her name was easy for me to pick out. It was the first name on the top of Red Team after Sasuke.

That...was potentially problematic. Atsuko and I may not be very similar in how we problem solve, but she was the person who probably best understood how I thought and approached problems. Sasuke having her could potentially be a big advantage for him. Further, the thought of going against her just...didn't feel right. She was my sister, we were suppose to always be on the same side.

I could only hope that Sasuke didn't fully utilize her.

Shikamaru was the next name I looked for. He too was unfortunately in Sasuke's team. That felt like more of a loss for me than a boon for Sasuke. Shikamaru wouldn't help with strategies unless he was coerced into it and I didn't think Sasuke even knew that Shikamaru was anything more than a lazy sub-par student.

_Let's hope Shikamaru doesn't suddenly decide to give a crap._

I ended up getting Sakura though. It wasn't a bad consolation prize. Sakura may not be as good at accomplishing objectives, but she would be a good person to bounce strategy ideas off of.

I also got Chouji. Which made sense. They auto sorted him away from Shikamaru, trying to get the Akimichi to do things on his own without relying on the Nara.

I really wish I had gotten Shikamaru instead though. Having Chouji...didn't do a lot for me. Having him didn't give an immediately apparent battle strategy and at this time the Akimichi's only technique was Meat Tank, which...kinda sucked to be honest. I guess I might be able to use it to knock down some trees for...something.

I also got Ino and a few other girls that could be summed up as "fan girls". Ino could be good, if she knew how to _**Assume Direct Control**_ but I don't think she was quite at that level yet. The rest of the fangirls were, to put it in chess terms, pawns. Though as anyone that's good at chess will tell you, pawns are very important and will often be the deciding factor for a game.

The last of the people automatically sorted that were worthy of note had me frowning.

They had split Unagi and Hibachi. Sasuke got Hibachi and I got Unagi. I got the better end of the deal there. Hibachi was a type A personality and was difficult to work with. He was mostly all bark and no bite. Unagi on the other hand always seemed to defer to the most powerful personality around and was actually pretty nimble and I'd seen him do some impressive stuff with bunshin and he always had a really good henge. I could use him.

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, Shino was split from me. We always teamed up together and they probably wanted to make sure we could function separately.

Which brought us to the people that choose their teams.

The first name, in large poorly written characters, was the name Uzumaki Naruto.

The sight made me smile.

Naruto would be helpful to my efforts. He had a great stealth ability, when he choose to use it. I'd probably put his stealth at high gennin to low chunin. There was no way he could hide from a jonin that was looking for him, but his stealth ability would be more than good enough to hide from most everyone we'd be coming up against. Naruto also came up with some really original and creative ideas sometimes.

I just wish he was as good at trap making as in fannon back home. He had his moments of being able to put together a prank, but he wasn't so good at traps in the traditional sense. He most often got himself caught in the snares he tried to make and anything complex that he made tended to just not work.

Next up was Kiba. The Inuzuka apparently decided to side with Sasuke. Which...sucked. His nose would smell out a lot of the tricks I could think of off the top of my head, he was one of the best in the class when it came to navigating forested areas, and he was one of the best combatants in the class. Easily third place, behind Sasuke and I. Kiba had managed to beat me in spares about...twenty five percent of the time. Perhaps a little less.

Kiba was probably going to be Sasuke's greatest asset.

It really surprised me that Kiba would even side with Sasuke though. Kiba hated Sasuke and usually went out of his way to go against the Uchiha. I suppose he thought his best chance at winning was with Sasuke...that or he was more determined to beat me than I thought he was.

I'd be much more depressed about the state of affairs that I had if it weren't for the last name on my list.

Hyuuga Hinata. With her ability to see through trees and keep track of where the enemy was at any time, she was undoubtedly the most useful person I had on my team.

It also meant she was the biggest target.

I could start to feel plans forming in my mind, but before that I had something very important to do.

I looked around, trying to find the signature long red hair of my sister.

It took just a short time to find her. She was quietly talking with a nervous looking Sakura. Probably about the fact that Sakura would be going up against her "beloved Sasuke-kun".

"Atsuko." I stated, getting her to turn and look at me. "Thank you."

She raised her eyebrow, "For what?"

"Hinata. You got her to go on my team, didn't you?"

Hinata and Atsuko were very close. Hinata's first instinct was probably to side with her.

"...it wasn't like it was very hard. She likes you better than Sasuke." Then Atsuko glanced around before leaning in and whispering, "Plus you have Naruto."

Heh.

That was true.

"Still, thanks." I said before turning to Sakura, "Now, Haruno-san. When are you free? I'd like to talk strategy with you."

"M-me?" She asked in surprise.

"Yeah. You have the highest grade in the class for strategy. You'll be great to point out any holes I have in my plans, as well as being able to suggest a few of your own."

"Oh...I guess I'm free now?" Sakura said timidly.

"Great! Now let's be off, away from prying enemy ears." I said as I glanced over at Atsuko.

Being the paragon of maturity Atsuko was, she stuck her tongue out in response.

"Now, I know this really good sweets shop we can go to. It's pretty enclosed too, so it'll be easy to pick out any eavesdroppers."

"It's always sweets with you." Sakura said with a shake of her head.

"Well...I like sweets. Plus," a very manic grin crosses my face, "you only live once."

There was little time to prepare for the first match. Supposedly it was based around the idea that we wouldn't always get time to prepare before we are sent out into the field. Thus making us work with people that we aren't necessarily use to working with ordinarily.

With that in mind, the day after the list showing who was on what team was posted, the first mock battle would take place.

Which was why, outside my brief moments to plan with Sakura the previous day, I had thirty minutes to prep my team on the day of the first match.

It did not go well.

Sure, it started out okay, but it unraveled pretty fast.

"So, I spent a long time talking this over with Sakura yesterday and I think I have a pretty solid plan." I said as I stood in front of the assembled group. "Most of our forces will be on the defensive. Sasuke is likely to do the opposite. He'll probably focus on a combination of busting in through our formation, while at the same time trying to see if he can sneak a few other people past our front lines while we're occupied with trying to repel him. Which option he'll focus more on though...I'm not sure."

I spread out a map onto the table in front of me. It displayed the training ground we'd be having the exercise in. The paper was almost pristine, the only thing taring it slightly was that a third of the map tinged red and another third of it tinged blue, our given "turfs". The map was new and I hadn't made any sort of markings on it. Something I would keep from doing. Really wanted to make sure no one got their hands on any sort of strategies I'd made.

This one was training ground five. It was one of the larger training grounds. It, like most of Konoha's training grounds, was heavily forested with only a few clearings. A small river ran through it, though river might be too generous a term, the water flow wasn't that strong and it was only deep enough to come up to my shoulders. And that was with me being a twelve year-old of mostly average height.

The one other feature of the training area that was worthy of note was that it actually had several buildings in it. Large sturdy structures meant to withstand quite a beating.

I had gone to the site the previous night and scouted it. The buildings looked like crap, scraped up, chipped, and burnt from all the training exercises that took place there, but they were undeniably still very solid and made for the most defendable position. I tapped my finger on where it was depicted.

"We're going to have our headquarters here, however we aren't going to keep more than three people inside. Most of you will be performing a triangular search pattern around the base."

"We're going to specifically be doing the delta nine pattern, though after an hour we'll change it over to the beta nine." Sakura said as she traced her finger on the map.

Everyone nodded as she said it, though quite a few of the nods were so hesitant it probably meant they had not actually memorized at these formation patterns.

Great.

"Pretty much everyone will be staying in this area. While I'm going to heading off over into this group of trees." I said as I tapped a spot on the map a small distance from our 'headquarters'. "I'll be bringing two others as backu-"

"Hey! Why are you separating from the team?" Ino interrupted, a frown on her face.

"Their two best combatants are Kiba and Sasuke. The first target of both is going to be either me or Hinata, and Hinata is going to be staying in the middle of the base. They'll track me down first." I answered.

"Just because you beat Sasuke a few times you think he's just going to focus on beating you first?" One of the fangirls, Ren, asked incredulously.

I'd feel insulted if she didn't have a point. Over the years Sasuke and I had sparred more than just the one time. The teachers were still hesitant to put us together, but it occasionally cropped up. Sasuke won about...eighty percent of the time. Not really what most would call rival material.

I could see where she was coming from, and I'd even agree with her if it weren't for the look Sasuke shot me when he found out I'd be the other team leader, but I don't think they'd just accept that I knew what he would do just from "a look in his eyes."

Plus it sounded pretty homoerotic.

As a general rule I tried not to admit to gazing deeply into another man's eyes because it tends to make people think you mean something very different.

"I have pretty good intel that he'll go for me first. Plus it makes sense that he would. I may not have beaten him many times, but I am the only one who has done it at all."

"That's a dumb reason to just have our supposed **leader** just wonder off away from everyone else! Plus that also puts you in the best countering position to the base, which would help YOU get the most points when the base is attacked."

"Hey! That's not why we came up with this plan!" Sakura shouted angrily at Ino.

"Oh? And I bet it just so HAPPENS that you're going to be on Daisuke's little 'counter detachment'."

"Er...well...I AM, but that's just because-"

The room soon devolved into a shouting match that I could NOT get under control and most of the room honestly looked more ready to attack EACH OTHER than the other team, and before I knew it a whistle sounded for the teams to gather, and I hadn't even managed to ASSIGN MY TEAM THEIR POSITIONS!

There were even still arguing as they walked out the door!

I can't believe that, for a moment, I forgot I was dealing with children.

Still there was one thing I needed to make sure to do.

"Naruto!" I called as I grabbed the back of the boy's black shirt. "Wait! I've got a special task for you."

"Okay! This is the last time I'm going to be going over the rules. When I'm done, you'll have ten minutes to set up, and then the whistle will blow, signaling the start!" Mizuki shouted from his place in the clearing.

A small part of me noted that I should still probably do something about him, but the rest of me told that part to shut up because I needed to focus.

The other team's larger numbers seemed way more apparent now that I could physically see them and not just have names and numbers on a paper.

"You've all been supplied with the paint of your team's color. Get any paint on you of the opposing team's color and you're out. Get a significant amount of your own paint on you, you're out. Every single one of you currently has ten points. When you get taken out, the person who took you out gets your points." Mizuki continued, his face looking incredibly bored, "Points have nothing to do with how you win. That's for grading of an individual. How your team wins is simple; both teams have been assigned a flag, when that flag is taken out of a team's turf, the game is over and that team wins."

This was not new information so most of the people didn't seem to be listening too closely, myself included. What mattered was observing the other team and seeing if I could withdraw SOMETHING to give us an advantage.

A lot of the other teamed looked a bit peeved, though I noticed that Atsuko looked positively livid, but as a whole they already seemed to be deferring to Sasuke. So half his team didn't LIKE him...but they'd do what he said.

Which was more than I could confidently say for my team right now.

"Rules of engagement!" Iruka shouted, "No live blades and no techniques that could cause permanent scarring or injury! Outside of that, anything goes!"

That, more than anything else, was the rule I was thankful for.

"Ready?" Iruka asked with his hand raised and a whistle inches from his mouth.

"Daisuke." Shino's voice came from a few feet over, causing me to glance over at him, barely keeping surprise off my face. "Good luck."

That was...uncharacteristic of Shino. He usually didn't wish "luck" for people.

"You too." I replied with a smile.

Then the whistle blew, "Ten minutes till the next whistle!"

Time to try and put my plan into action.

"Okay, everyone check yourself for bugs, because I guarantee we all have at least one on us!" I called out to my sort-of-team as we moved further into our turf.

This was apparently something they were willing to follow my orders on, as they didn't seem too keen on have a bug crawl all over them. It was only a few moments later that the sound of various people freaking out over finding a bug on them died down.

"How'd you know?" Choji asked from beside me.

"We're fighting an Aburame. I'd actually be disappointed in Shino if he didn't at least _try_to tag us with bugs." I answered as I dug out a scroll and tossed it to Choji.

"H-huh?"

"In that scroll I've sealed a flag and a pole. I want you to take Hinata, Unagi, and Sakura and go to the center most room of the basement in the building I said would be our HQ. You guys are going to be guarding the flag as well as guiding the team as much as possible." I said as I glanced down at the storage seal on my arm.

"Us?" Three voices rang out around me in surprise.

"Yeah. Hinata is going to use her Byakugan and know the enemy's position then share that with Sakura who's going to be using the fuse box in the basement to trigger the lights in the building in signals to the rest of the team about where the enemy is. You guys are also to fight your absolute hardest if anyone gets to where you are."

The four in question were the only ones left near me. Everyone else had apparently gone their own ways to fight how they wished. Which...wasn't great but I did see them mostly heading off towards our head quarters. Hopefully they had the sense to pay attention to the building as well as lay some traps.

In the meantime I needed to get some ground and find a good vantage point. Sasuke, and probably Kiba, were going to be coming after me and I'd very much like to see them coming.

"Hey! Wait a second!" Unagi called out, stopping me. "Why are _we_ getting this job? You shouldn't give it to us just because we were the ones to stick around!"

"This was always where I planned on putting you guys." I answered with an eye roll. "You guys are most suited for this job. If you don't believe me, just ask Sakura. This is the plan we came up with."

"You...brainstormed with Sakura?" Choji asked in surprise.

"...yes." I said slowly with a raised eyebrow, "She has the best grades in tactical exams in our class. Of course I'd run plans by her. Now we really should be going, you guys have got to set up your position and I would very much like a chance to set up some traps."

I barely heard their reply as I ran off towards my chosen spot.

I didn't have time to set up anything complex but hopefully the stuff I'd prepared beforehand would work.

The sound of a whistle split the air, echoing out across the training ground.

I wasn't as done as I would have liked to be, but I had to make do since laying traps at this point was more likely to get me stabbed in the back than it was likely to help me. Thus I leapt up into the tallest tree on the hill I had situated myself on and kept my eyes peeled for trouble.

It was only second later I could vaguely hear the sounds of battle, and judging by how close it was Sasuke decided to blitz us.

Which...really wasn't a bad plan.

If Sasuke managed to pick up on our lack of cohesion when he saw us it would have been a good idea for him to strike first and strike hard. In his position I'd probably do the same thing.

Though the weakness of this strategy was that if the attack failed then he'd be in a very weak position without much in the way of defence, making his flag easy to claim.

If I actually had a team cooperating with me outside of the ones on defense I would have dispatched them to go around the blitz and aim for the flag while we focused on defense. Not that having thought of that actually helped me at that moment.

As the moments dragged on though I felt myself questioning my logic. If I was wrong...I'd really really look like a heel. It would look like I abandoned my team and it would absolutely show me as an incompetent leader. I crouched in the tree as the minutes ticked by and the sounds of combat grew to be less and less.

I was about to jump away from the tree to see if I could still go help, maybe in a Big Damn Heroes moment, when I saw it.

Kiba was heading straight for me at max speed, only occasionally deviating his path, probably to avoid the traps I had set.

But I didn't see Sasuke? I _know_ Sasuke was gunning for me and he wouldn't send just Kiba after me. Plus Kiba bum rushing me is pretty dumb unless...

I quickly whirled around as my chakra pulsed into the seal on my arm and my shield, Koroks, appeared on my arm in a puff of smoke. The heater was made of solid steel with the circular symbol of the Kokiri painted on the front of the shield in bright red, the design looking a bit on on the otherwise silver finish of the steel.

The shield was brought around just in time to stop the blunted kunai Sasuke was thrusting at me.

Sasuke's wide-eyed look of shock was incredibly satisfying.

While the Uchiha was still off balanced I thrust a kunai of my own towards his head. The Uchiha, in a great show of flexibility and reaction speed, bent himself backwards to avoid the strike. I could already see him shifting himself to come back up in a strike at my unshielded side.

Too bad for him I wasn't planning on staying there.

My entire body followed after my strike as I launched myself over him towards the tree's trunk, turning myself so my shield remained oriented towards Sasuke while I moved my feet to impact against the tree allowing me to push off and away. I needed to make sure that Sasuke remained between me and the oncoming Kiba.

If Kiba flanked me I'd lose in seconds.

Sasuke launched after me, intent on keeping me on the defensive. I was perfectly fine with that. It let me pick where we'd be fighting as he just chased after me.

Of course he'd also be expecting traps too.

I back stepped as I faced Sasuke, my shield pulling around to block the trio of kunai thrown at me as Sasuke followed closely after. The Uchiha's feet slammed into my shield with a resounding _clang_as he brought his hand down with another kunai in a stabbing motion at my head.

I wouldn't get my free hand up in time to block.

So instead I pulsed my chakra into the seal on my left arm, causing the shield to disappear allowing my left hand to dart up and grab hold of the Uchiha's wrist while he flailed a bit at his sudden lack of anything to stand on. Capitalizing on my opportunity I whirled around and bodily threw Sasuke against the tree next to me.

His back smacked against the wood with a loud smack.

I quickly reached into my coat pocket and pulsed my chakra into the seal there. A moment later a bright blue circle flew from my hand towards the Uchiha even as I tried to gain some distance and prepared another one.

Sasuke managed to recover from the hit before the balloon could hit him though, circling around the tree to dodge as blue paint splattered everywhere.

"Water balloons?" Sasuke asked aloud in shock before having to again duck away to avoid the next water balloon filled with paint.

In this game a water balloon filled with paint was almost as good as a grenade, though that didn't matter much if Sasuke could still avoid them this easily.

I didn't stick around though, I quickly darted away. I needed to make sure this didn't become a two on one fight. Kiba would be arriving any mome-

A trio of kunai covered in red paint barely missed me as I tried to run.

And NOT from where Sasuke was.

This was now a two on one...crap.

I was honestly amazed I hadn't gotten taken out yet.

The only reason I hadn't yet was only because Sasuke and Kiba did _not_ coordinate well. There were a few times one of them had me dead to rights but the other's own plans ended up interrupting things.

However none of that would matter if my next plan didn't work. I had been getting tired fending both of them off and one of them would get to me eventually.

I quickly lept through the narrow gap between tree limbs into a hollowed tree.

There was only two ways into the tree. The path I just took and the exit I was immediately headed for.

The two from red team followed immediately after.

Which was a big mistake.

I hadn't quite managed to make exploding tags yet, and even if I could I certainly wouldn't be allowed to use them in this exercise. However there was another seal that had a similar ability.

The Firecracker Seal was very low powered and cheap. They were often sold during festival times and their only real utility in the field was to distract the enemy. Their explosive force wasn't enough to do more than sting a ninja.

It was more than enough, however, to burst some balloons filled with paint and spray their contents.

I quickly turned my head to verify that both Kiba and Sasuke had crossed the threshold. A smirk blossomed on my face as I brought my fingers into the tiger seal.

"Boom."

Blue paint exploded everywhere. I didn't stay to see if it got both of them.

I barrelled out of the hollowed tree and headed towards our HQ.

Most of the fighting should be done by now, and if I arrived and we had already lost I didn't have much of a chance anyways, but if we managed to rebuff the initial attack it was about time to mount a counter attack.

I needed to get there...just as soon as I caught my breath.

I leaned against a tree. My breath coming out in ragged gasps as I listened for any pursuers.

_I don't hear anything...I...think I got them both. It would be pretty hard to dodge that.  
_  
I let out a sigh as I leaned my head against the tree and closed my eyes.

My eyes weren't closed long, because as soon as they did a rustle of leaves snapped my eyes open just in time to see Sasuke rocketing towards me. I stumbled, surprised, and it was enough of a mistake that Sasuke managed to slash me across the chest.

I was "dead".

Sasuke's eyes sparked in victory, his mouth opened as he was about to speak when-

"Take this!" Came the triumphant shout of a particularly stupid blonde by the name of Uzumaki Naruto.

Sasuke jerked out of the way, allowed a blue coated kunai sail past him as he responded in kind with a red one.

Sasuke did not miss.

The red kunai smacked Naruto in the middle of his forehead was in mid air, causing him to pinwheel and land on his butt in a way that did NOT seem like it would be pleasant.

"Naruto you...idiot." I muttered as I stared at my friend.

I sat there hoping that Sasuke didn't...nope, his eyes narrowed, he saw it.

The Uchiha marched up to Naruto and reached down and pulled a long strip of blue cloth of the blond's pocket.

"You...really gave your flag to _this_ moron?" Sasuke asked in what I could tell was genuine surprise.

"Yeah. I'm really rethinking the wisdom of that too." I said as I leaned back and watched Sasuke's face as he did the math in his head. I could almost HEAR the gears turning as a look of shock came on his face and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

_"If the flag is here...then what's at the HQ?"  
_  
Sasuke quickly darted away...noticeably away from the HQ. Apparently deciding to just get the flag out of our controlled area as quickly as possible.

The only hope for my team was that they managed to mount a successful counter attack before he managed to get out of our turf.

In the meantime, "Naruto, you absolute numbskull. What part of 'hide and **don't engage the enemy do you NOT UNDERSTAND?"**

(Kiba's perspective)

This was annoying.

Daisuke should have been taken out LONG ago but Mister Perfect here kept cutting me off whenever I had a clear shot. The two of us chased him down for at least a half hour when he finally darted into a hollowed out tree.

Sasuke and I immediately pursued, but as we made our way in it hit me.

There was a really strong smell of paint coming from inside...and I had just stepped through the threshold.

I was at the rear, there was no way I wasn't going to get paint on me...but I might be able to keep Sasuke clean and not many other people on our side had a good chance of taking out Ayasugi...

Ah damn.

I heard the small pops of...firecrackers? Not sure, but I knew the trap was sprung and I dove to shield Sasuke from the oncoming rush of blue paint.

The paint splattered against my back before I fell to the ground, not quite able to catch myself. Uchiha turned around and looked at me in surprise.

He just...stood there for a second, wide eyed before breathlessly asking, "Why?"

I raise a hand out towards him, the appendage shaking, "...go Sasuke...finish it...I can't..." I let my hand fall to the ground as my form suddenly goes slack and my eyes close.

"...you're an idiot." Sasuke said before turning and leaving the hollowed tree.

"Hey! I fake died for you!" I called after the ungrateful bastard.

...

I don't think this paint is going to come out of my cloths...ah damn it's in my hair too.


	7. Chapter 7

(Chouji's POV)

Chouji clutched the scroll to his chest tightly as he walked into the basement room Daisuke told them to go into. He'd never really been trusted with something like this before. It had been handed to him.

Not Sakura, not Hinata, not Unagi. Him, the fat screw up that skipped class too often and didn't do too well even when he tried.

Frankly...he wasn't sure how he felt about it. It was more responsibility and that kind of made him want to just go home, grab some food, and just pretend the outside world didn't exist. On the other hand...he was trusted with it.

He didn't want to fail that trust.

"Okay, Choji, if you'll unseal the flag and pole and place it in the middle of the room please." Sakura asked as she unrolled her own scroll and seemed to unseal a large blue sheet of paper.

Choji finally glanced up and really took stock of the room.

It was L shaped and had one entrance, which led out into a long hallway of which provided a textbook kill box for anyone hiding behind one of the numerous overturned tables in the room. The advantage of the room was taken one step further by a bright search light that had been set up to point out the door, it would be blindingly bright for anyone trying to head down the hallway. They also had to have Sakura guide them through said hallway on the way in to avoid the numerous traps that were set up along the way.

The room also had what looked like a fuse box and a lone upright table sitting next to it. That was where Sakura had set herself up.

Choji didn't think you could have a more defensive position.

"So...we just sit in here?" Unagi asked.

"Well...you two will watch the hallway and try and hit anyone that comes in. Hinata and I are going to be setting off traps." Sakura answered.

"Setting off traps how?" Chouji asked in confusion as he unrolled his sealing scroll.

"Daisuke and I came early this morning and rigged a bunch of paint balloons to the lights at various points in the building. When I flip one of these breakers it will cause certain areas to drop paint by the electrical current popping the balloon." Sakura said before pointing towards the large blue sheet of paper on the table, "This is a map of the building. Hinata is going to be using her Byakugan to tell me when someone steps into one of the marked areas and if it's area A, B, C, and so on."

"U-um. I..don't know if I can keep the Byakugan up that long." Hinata said shyly, her fingers poking together.

"That's okay. Keep it up for as long as you can, but let us know if you're approaching your limit, okay?" Sakura said with a smile.

Chouji finally unsealed his scroll, a four foot long pole with wide wooden base appeared, from the very top of the pole hung a triangular stip of bright blue cloth.

"That's...that's not our flag." Unagi voice suddenly spoke up, causing Chouji to look at him in confusion. "I mean it's close, but I got a glimpse of our flag earlier and it's just a shade brighter."

What? Did he already fail at the task? Did someone somehow switch scrolls when he wasn't looking? Or maybe-

"That's because it's not our flag." Sakura said, "The real one is being hidden somewhere else. Not even Daisuke or I are sure where, but the entire plan revolves around us holding out long enough to be able to counter attack at best and at worst convince them that this is the flag they want."

Oh.

He...hadn't been trusted with the flag.

He was a decoy, and expendable. It..made sense he guessed.

"Daisuke didn't want to tell anyone out there because the whole plan hinges on them focusing their attack _here_. So we still have to fight tooth and nail like this is our last stand." Sakura said before looking down at a watch on her wrist. "And...the game just started. Get to positions!"

Chouji quickly placed the flag pole up in the middle of the room, it's position visible from the doorway, before quickly kneeling behind one of the desks on the right side of the room.

"Hinata bring up your Byakugan. If no one is in a fifty feet of the building turn it back off and try again in a minute." Sakura said.

Chouji sighed as he settled himself down and pulled out a bag of chips. Specifically Barbeque flavored ones.

He had really thought he had been trusted with the original flag. It made sense that he didn't get it, and he knew what he was doing now was still important, but...

Chouji shoved a hand-full of chips into his mouth, crunching loudly.

"Really? Do you HAVE to do that?" Unagi asked from his position on the opposite side of the room, a disgusted look on his face.

"I'm hungry." Chouji answered before shoving another handful in his mouth.

"You're going to give your position away." Unagi continued, a slight sneer on his face.

"No one's even in the building yet!" Chouji said in exasperation.

Unagi rolled his eyes and gave another disgusted look before turning to stare down the hallway.

Chouji grabbed another handful of chips.

It happened so fast.

Everything had been going so slow right up until the end.

The only sounds in the little room where Hinata occasionally giving a letter and Sakura flipping a switch. The rate of which was almost painfully slow.

Chouji had managed to eat three bags of chips before he heard it.

"Get ready! They're going to reach the hallway in a few seconds!" Came Hinata's panting voice.

The Hyuuga's was sweating heavily and her face looked pale...er...paler. Apparently she hadn't held to the promise of not pushing herself.

Chouji's quickly forgot about that though as he heard the first trap of the hallway spring, causing him to turn around and ready a kunai to throw.

He..was actually pretty bad at throwing kunai but in a situation like this even he could hit a target.

After that they managed to take out two more people that tried to rush the hallway...well...Unagi managed to take out one and the other was taken out by a trap.

Then things picked up.

Suddenly a large swarm of bugs filled the hallway, keeping them from seeing anything coming down the hallway. That is, until a black ball was thrown through the swarm and into the room. Said ball promptly exploded, filling the room with a black smoke that had Chouji coughing and prevented him from seeing anything.

Not even the kunai dripping with red paint slashing him across the front.

When the smoke finally cleared it was to see a very cross looking Sakura with a dab of red paint in the middle of her forehead, a tired looking Hinata panting on all fours, and the victorious forms of Shino, Shikamaru, Hibachi, and Ami.

"Shika?" Chouji asked.

"Chouji?" Shikamaru asked as well. Apparently equally surprised.

Wait...where was Unagi? He was right over in that corner. He couldn't have gone anywhere. So wh-

Movement!

Suddenly a humanoid form, henged to perfectly match the wall he was standing in front of, lunged from it's spot at the corner and slashed across Shikamaru's back with a blue coated kunai. The henge disappeared in a puff of some, revealing Unagi as he lunged to stab at Ami.

Hibachi managed to get to Unagi first, the front of Unagi's shirt now sporting a bright red splotch from a well thrown kunai.

Chouji stared at the bespeckled boy in amazement. He'd never even HEARD of someone managing to use henge like that. That was...actually really cool.

"Oh darn. Guess I'm out of the game." Shikamaru said drooly before plopping down next to Choji and closing his eyes.

A smile tugged at Chouji's lips. The action was just...so Shikamaru.

"...Daisuke isn't here." Shino noted as he looked around the room, "Something's not right."

"Well we can worry about it after we get this flag out of their territory and win the game." Hibachi said confidently as he strode up to the flagpole and grabbed the strip of cloth.

"Wait." Shino's voice commanded.

"Huh?" Hibachi asked as he turned around and pulled his arm down, pulling the flag off the pole.

There was a small click followed by a loud bang and then a rush of blue as paint exploded out of the top of the flag pole, spraying every single person in the room with paint.

That...was unexpected.

Beside Chouji, Shikamaru let out a short laugh. "Didn't see that one coming."

Chouji stared at Shikamaru in surprise. He had never once, in the many years he'd know Shikamaru, ever heard his friend say that something took him by surprise or that he didn't see something coming.

Chouji wasn't very happy with his role in all this but...he had to admit, if only because Shikamaru's comment, that he was a little proud to have taken part in the plan.

(Daisuke POV)

"You literally did the exact opposite of what I told you to do!"

"But I had him!"

"_Clearly_ you did not!" I continued my shouting, "In fact, I specifically told you to NOT engage anyone under any circumstances and even said 'especially Sasuke'!"

"It was too good a chance to pass up though!"

I opened my mouth to give another angry reply about Naruto's particularly stupid actions when the sound of a whistle split the air, signifying the end of the match and, more specifically, Sasuke's victory. My mouth clicked shut and I took a deep breath in through my nose before expelling it out my mouth.

Peace.

This was just as much my mistake as it was Naruto's; I chose the wrong person from the job, at least personality wise. Naruto's dream was to be a hero and have people look at him, acknowledge him...and I have him the job that would get the least amount of spot light. Even if we won, Naruto wouldn't have felt accomplished for winning.

Winning itself doesn't matter as much as how you win.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been yelling at you." I said before glancing at Naruto. "Will you forgive me?"

Naruto's gobsmacked face in response was simultaneously hilarious and saddening. I sincerely hoped it was because he didn't expect me to apologize so fast and not because no one had ever apologized to him before.

"Come on. We have to get back to rally point we started at." I said before taking to the trees and jumping towards where we began, Naruto jumping after me a moment later.

I took in deep slow breaths as I lept through the trees, the wind whipping past my face and carrying the smell of the forest on its currents. My feet never touching a solid surface for more than a second.

Tree jumping was one of the things that we learned in the academy that I truly enjoyed. It was freeing in a way that I'd never had exercise feel before, and I took a moment to embrace that enjoyment now. Not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. I was a leader right now. I couldn't let failure seem like more than a set back. I couldn't show a foul mood. Being together, still in control and feeling refreshed was a better image to project.

The match itself wasn't as important to me as how well my team did. If we lost the flag, but came out ahead in points, then that would be it's own victory.

Judging by the number of people I saw completely coated in blue as I reached the clearing we had started in, that looked to me to be a strong possibility. The fact that Sasuke wasn't giving me a superior looking smirk also really helped to imply that we were the ones that came out ahead points wise.

Most of my team did have rather sullen looks on their faces, and mostly seemed to look at me rather apologetically as I approached. Also judging by the fact that Chouji, Sakura, Unagi, and Hinata were also liberally coated in blue paint, the last line of defence ended up going off.

Though there were a few people that were spotless on my side, Ino among them. Which probably meant that Ino bossed around her own little group to do some things and it actually turned out well for her.

I'll have to keep that in mind.

"Hey guys." I greeted before bowing low at my waist to them, "Sorry, we lost this one."

"That's okay." Came Chouji's voice. "It was a good plan."

I glanced over at the Akimichi in surprise. I hadn't particularly expected him to be one of the first to speak up. He usually didn't say much in large groups like this.

"Thank you, Chouji. I appreciate that."

It was then that Iruka and Mizuki began to walk towards us from the treeline, Iruka with a kind smile on his face.

"Well done! As you all know by now, this round goes to red team!" He said as he gestured over towards the group around Sasuke, resulting in cheering, laughter, bragging, and some booing from my side.

One of the people booing was Naruto, who was standing next to me.

I smacked him upside the head.

"Hey! What's that for?!"

"No booing. It's petty." I replied.

I got a tongue stuck out at me in response.

"Congratulations are due! Now we are going to head back to the Academy and spend the rest of the day speaking to all the students one by one and going over their performance with them in private. While we are doing that you are all free to do as you would like, so long as you are ready to come into the review room when your name is called!" Iruka continued.

They were just going to let us sit around and not do anything as we were talked to one by one?

That...didn't sound right.

But what could they be wanting us to do?

Maybe...give us time to talk among ourselves and get an idea of how the whole thing went down? Figure out big picture where we ended up fitting in.

That makes a bit more sense. Plus it would be a good time to strategize for the next event.

"When we get to the Academy you'll see your scores posted on how many points you got for the number of kills you have!" Mizuki called out, causing quite a few people's heads to snap over to look at him. "I've already sent someone ahead so it will be posted when we get there."

There was a brief moment of silence before a great number of the class bolted off towards the academy, apparently excited to find out their scores.

I also managed to see the long-suffering look Iruka gave Mizuki before the two of them sprinted to keep up with most of the group.

Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Hinata and myself were the ones that lagged behind, following after at a more sedate pace.

I knew exactly why Hinata wasn't in a hurry, and I needed to make sure to make it up to her some other time. She probably didn't get a single "kill" because of her role as a coordinator. It was the thing I hated most about the plan I used. The single most valuable team member I had wouldn't end up getting many points and it almost caused me to scrap the whole thing.

The only thing that stopped me was that Sakura pointed out Hinata probably felt more fulfilled with her given role than if we gave her any other.

"So, I didn't see that last trick coming." Shikamaru said as he gazed up at the sky, lagging a bit behind the rest of the group. Except for Chouji who diligently stuck by his side. "I was expecting something, but the paint in the pole was surprising."

I gave a nod. "Yeah. I actually made that flagpole myself. I managed to get a look of what the flagpoles and flags would look like when I helped Iruka move stuff out of the storage room and managed to make replicas."

"Having Sakura not destroy the bug I placed on her was a good move too." Shino said from beside me.

That elicited a groan from me, "Holy crap you have no idea how much effort it took me to convince her not to do that. Also, if Sakura asks in the future, your bugs are regularly cleaned and don't poop."

Shino's brows furrowed, "But...they do defecate. Why? Because all living creatures must expel the waste they consume and it is not different for my bugs."

"Yeah. I know. Just don't tell Sakura that for at least the next year or so." I said as I scratched the back of my head.

There was a slightly uncomfortable pause of silence.

"You are going to use this to blackmail me somehow aren't you?" I asked.

"It's a possibility." Shino answered.

I gave a shrug, "Fair enough."

I was generally a calm person. Very few things could really make me angry, and even then it was usually better described as me being irritated.

Which is why most of the class inched away from me as I gave a shout of, "What the hell is this!"

The paper displayed the scores of all the people that had participated, and specifically displayed how many points that we managed to make during the course of the test. At a glance I wasn't at all angry. The person with the second highest score was Shino followed immediately after by Sakura. The thing that made me angry was the name I saw sitting at the top of the list.

Mine.

And near the bottom of the list sat Chouji and Hinata's names.

"Why is my score so high?! I didn't take anyone out!"

"You laid quite a few traps that the enemy fell for, and the last one in the flagpole managed to double the amount of points you had after your 'death', meaning Sasuke didn't get a share of them." Came Iruka's answer from his spot at the door. Apparently he had come in to call someone in for their review.

"But I didn't set the flagpole trap! Chouji did! He unsealed it, he placed the pole. He set the trap, those points should go to him!" I argued.

"He had no idea it was a trap. You orchestrated all the events, you handmade the trap yourself, and you were the one that handed the scroll over to him. It was your trap and your plan. The points are yours."

"But...that's not what I wanted!" I growled out as my fist clenched at my side, "The plan couldn't have been done without them. They were far more important to how things played out than I was. That's not fair."

Plus they were the main squad I would have used to counter attack if they had managed to survive the assault.

"The posted points there are final. Now if you would be so kind as to go to the exam room A, I'll go over how you did. Sasuke, you are in exam room B!" Iruka called out before leaving the room.

My fist was clenched painfully and my jaw was grinding a bit.

I had basically just used one of my closest friends for a decoy when he didn't get anything out of it, and was instead rewarded myself.

I glanced over to see the Akimichi expression. The boy's face was...difficult for me to read at the moment, but I could see his eyes watering ever so slightly.

Damn it.

I really didn't accomplish the things I wanted to with this at all...but damn if I couldn't argue against Iruka's reasoning.

The sound of the door sliding open seemed unusually muted to my ears as I made my entrance into Iruka's office to get my 'after action report' in how I did in the mock battle. I'm not sure if it was in my head or if the door was actually quieter than most of the sliding doors. Most ninja facilities, and even homes, had a tendency to make their windows, doors, and floors squeak when used.

It made it much harder for people to sneak up on you in your own home, letting even the most paranoid ninja relax the slightest bit.

When I first arrived in this world, I had expected all the ninja homes to be deathly quiet due to slight preconceptions about ninja, but as it would turn out-

Iruka cleared his throat to get my attention before motioning to the chair across from his desk. "Daisuke, please, sit."

Okay, no more procrastinating.

I strode forward and sat down in the chair across from my teacher.

I _know_ Iruka's chair was one of the same wooden ones that were all throughout the school, but Iruka reclined himself in the chair in a way that I was pretty sure couldn't be done. The chairs were designed to be slightly uncomfortable in an effort to make student pay better attention. It was why Shikamaru always leaned forward on the desk instead of backwards. However Iruka held a clipboard and leaned against the chair with a level of casualness that I didn't think possible in the things.

Which was odd, since Iruka pretty much NEVER looked that casual.

"So, how do you think you did in the mock battle?" Iruka asked with the same tone one might ask a stranger what they thought of the weather.

"Mediocre, at best." I answered.

Iruka regarded me with a slightly raised eyebrow, "Your point score would say otherwise, wouldn't it?"

I opened my mouth and closed it for a second, trying to find the right way to express what I wanted. "If...I was anyone else on my team, I would agree. But I wasn't. I was...am the leader of my team. It doesn't matter if I succeed if my team fails. I might have scored more points, but I didn't guide my team to victory, and I even failed to make sure my team members scored a more fair division of points."

Iruka took a moment to scribble something down on his sheet of paper.

"And what do you think you could have done better?" Iruka asked.

"I should have taken a moment to talk with all of my teammates earlier. In particular I should have spent some time conversing with Ino to make sure she wouldn't be as negative of an impact on my leadership." I answered.

"And you feel that Ino is to blame for why your team lost?" Iruka asked, his body seeming to lean even further back in the chair.

"I..." in a manner of speaking it was her fault, in that she was the one amongst the group with the most personality. Most everyone else in the group didn't have the charisma and force of personality to get so many people to sway to her way of thinking, at least not on the level she did. But at the same time more people than her had those same complaints, so it's very possible someone else would have caused the same thing. "No. She may have played a factor, but in the end it was my lack of forethought that is to blame."

That seemed to make a smirk tug at Iruka's face. "So you feel that Ino didn't display gross incompetence as a shinobi for her display on the field?"

"Not...gross incompetence." I answered, "She shouldn't have done it the way she did. But, to be fair, if anyone but me had been the leader of the team, she wouldn't have done it. She and I have never really gotten along."

I wasn't even overly sure why Ino didn't like me. A part of me thought it was just because of the fact that I was the one that would occasionally beat Sasuke, but I mostly didn't think Ino was that shallow. It might just be our personalities. Certain people just didn't get along with each other no matter what, and I felt that Ino and I might fight in that category for each other. She was gossipy, girly, and a bit of a queen bee. I didn't typically get along with those personality traits, and I probably had quite a few traits of my own that Ino didn't appreciate.

"Anyone? But Ino shows to have difficulty getting along with several other people in your class as well. Notably Shikamaru."

"Well...maybe not everyone. Naruto would likely have been worse an even worse choice for her than me, and there were several others that she wouldn't fall in line with, but they would probably have fallen in line with her and did what she asks. Though Shikamaru would actually have been a better choice than me. If he was in charge of this team, he'd probably have won the match...if you got him to actually care."

"Oh? You think he would have done better than you?" Iruka asked, causing me to lift my eyebrow.

Something about how Iruka was acting seemed a bit...off to me.

"Shikamaru would have been a better strategist than everyone else in our class."

"He has some of the lowest grades in his strategy class. What makes you say he would have been a better leader?"

A grin crept across my face. I'd been waiting to use this line. "Because when you are as lazy as him, you quickly figure out the most effective way to go about things, and he has probably spent more time doing that than anyone else our age."

That elicited a slight "Heh" from Iruka.

"Why did you choose to start the match with you, the leader of your team, being completely cut off from the rest of your team?"

That was an odd way to ask the question. It was almost like he is more just wanting to know how I think rather than...

Wait.

This...this wasn't an after action report.. I think this was...an evaluation?

Most of these question probed more after my personality that my strategy. But why?

"I knew Sasuke would start the match by coming after me. Every moment he spent with me was more time for my team to whittle down his team."

"And why did you think your team would have the advantage without you or Sasuke around?"

"I delegated responsibilities so my team could function without me. I'll bet money that Sasuke did not do the same. Sasuke might hunt me down and take me out, but it would be a while, enough time to make a hole in his troops."

"So you didn't expect to win the fight with Sasuke. Do you feel that he's a better ninja than you?"

Now that was a loaded question.

Different answers could mean very different things and say different things about my personality, which I was absolutely sure was the goal of this line of questioning right now.

Eh...best just stick with the truth.

"No, he's not. Since neither of us have graduated, neither of us are ninja...although I do believe Sasuke will probably go farther in the ninja world than me."

"Why is that?"

I let out a snort and run a hand through my hair as I tilt my head back and stare at the ceiling for a moment before answering.

"Sasuke...Sasuke is more talented than me, of that there is no doubt, however I also feel that Sasuke has more dedication to this than I do. I train till I'm tired, Sasuke trains until he bleeds. He'll go farther, do more, and be stronger than me."

"And you are okay with him being stronger than you?"

I sure better be. He would be one of the two people comparable in strength to Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama in a few years. I was fairly confident I could reach jounin. Heck, I might even make it to being a S-class fighter.

I was probably never going to reach that level of bullshit though.

"Yes. I'm okay with that. Besides, I don't rate myself by others. It is my own expectations I have to meet, and the person I should most compete with is myself."

Iruka gave a small nod before starting to write down on the the board in a slow, lazy flourishes. Which was odd since Iruka usually wrote with almost mechanical precision.

...

Maybe I shouldn't be sharing this much about myself. There was a lot of things Iruka was doing that were unusual for him.

Was he trying to make me think he was actually an enemy soldier, snuck in to steal information? **Was** he an enemy soldier snuck in to steal information?

No...that would be unlikely. This was a highly monitored area and it would be a lot of risk without much gain.

"So, that shield you used in battle. Ever use it in a fight before?" The maybe-not-Iruka asked.

"No. I haven't." I answered honestly.

"That's a bit of a risk, isn't it?"

"True, but I was fighting Sasuke, and he's used to most of my tricks. I needed something he hadn't really seen before to take him by surprise...or at least that was the idea."

"Do you think that you will be using it more in the future?"

I gazed at my arm, and thought of the moment I managed to grab hold of Sasuke's ankle and swing him around..man, that moment felt good.

"Yes...yes I will."

Probably-Not-Iruka gave a nod before clapping his hands together. "Right! That's it. You can go." Iruka said as he gave a lazy wave towards the door. "You will receive a paper packet rating you on your performance tomorrow."

That's it?

That was...rather abrupt.

And such an odd thing to end it on. That question was asking about my individual fighting ability in the future. Which had almost nothing to do with the mock battles.

I puzzled over that for a moment as I got up and walked towards the door...which had somehow shut behind me without me noticing. I yanked the door open as it dawned on me.

The only time it would come up again would be at...graduation.

When we would be slotted with different teams.

Led by different jounin who needed to choose who would go where based on teamwork and what roles they would fulfill.

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to look behind me.

"You're one of the jounin looking to get a team at the end of the school year, aren't you?" I asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I'm just the same chunin that's been teaching you for the last several years." He said in a far too innocent voice, his eyes crinkling closed as he gave a smile that seemed to heavily disagree with his words.

"Right. My mistake." I answered as I turned and headed out.

I...think I was just interviewed by Hatake Kakashi...

Which would mean we were getting interviewed by jounin. Which...made a lot of sense. A chance for them to meet their own potential students while under the guise of their current teachers. Not that they would be making the final decision now, but it was a chance to get an idea of what they wanted to happen.

Which would also explain why most of the feedback we would be getting was from the paper packet we would be getting tomorrow rather than in the interview I just had.

Eh...I think I'll still go report that this Iruka as an imposter.

Best case scenario this would just give Kakashi another excuse for his tardiness. Worst case this is actually Iruka and I just made it so he would have to answer some annoying questions with the threat of torture and mind rape if his answers weren't satisfactory.

...eh, I'm sure he'll be fine.

I closed the door to my room behind me and heaved a sigh. Today had certainly been...eventful. I didn't do as good of a job as I could have in my first time as a leader but that didn't mean I should sit around moping. My first instinct was also to start planning my strategy for next time, but that wasn't what I needed. Well, I would need to focus on that eventually, but first I had a far more important job. Take the group of people I had and make them into an actual team.

Which is going to be a bit more difficult than I originally thought it would be. I had a lot of very opinionated personalities on my team, people that didn't take well doing something if they thought their own idea was better.

That could be a problem in the future, though I doubt the same thing would happen if I had an ACTUAL rank over them. But to many of them, even many of the ones that followed me, I was just another classmate.

I couldn't help but think of some classes I took in a previous life. Specifically on leadership and they ways to go about it. In truth there are only three ways to lead. Authoritarian, which most militarizes use and focuses on "do this now because I said so". Laissez-faire, which was a hands off approach that only worked in a very few number of situation.

The last was democratic. Get the people you lead involved in the decision making process, let them know that their voices are heard and taken into consideration in the final decision. It was considered to be the best form of leadership for business and, I believe...it's what I need to use with my team. Now once the ball gets rolling and we are in the field it has to be authoritarian, but they also need to feel like they are contributing to the overall good of the team.

It's all I would want in their place.

So I could steal some things from my previous life on how to do this. Not everything...I doubt the trust fall exercise would really do much here, but reserve a classroom and proved food as we talk about how we can do better as a team...that was very doable.

I had gotten so focused on the idea that this a military and that I treated in in an authoritarian manner. But that isn't how Konoha is run, not really. Usually you receive all mission details before hand, you are given a time to make your thoughts heard and for changes to be made before you go out into the field. There are secrets kept but pretty much never on any mission you are participating in yourself.

I think the idea of it came up from the fact that missions where first run by clans that came together and didn't completely trust each other at the time. Either way I couldn't do it in the future and I think this loss reflected that.

However, as the old adage goes, you learn more from defeat than victory. I've also long held that you are only a fool when you don't learn from your mistakes, not when a mistake is made. And if there is one thing I hate more than anything else, it's being a fool.

Xxxxx

It was the day after the mock battle and I found out that I wasn't the only one who wasn't happy with the way things went down. In fact I was positively at peace with what happened in comparison to Atsuko.

"And Sasuke wouldn't let me do ANYTHING." Atsuko shouted arms flailing, "And he was all like '_I'm mister boss man I have the plan and this is what we are going to do.'_ And just had me stand around guarding the flag! He wouldn't let me give my thoughts on anything!"

While it is helpful to know that Sasuke made the same mistake I made, Atsuko had been telling this story since our walk home from school last night. The fact that she is still complaining is equal parts annoying and amusing.

"And even though we won he got all gloomy and depressed and got angry when we tried to be happy about winning. Like his personal score was the only thing that mattered and not the fact that our team won.

The classroom goes silent as I walk in, all eyes turning to me for a second before the room dissolves into whispers.

Yeah, that's totally what I want to happen every time I walk into a room.

I'm guessing the mock battles with be a much gossiped about topic for another day or two. I can't help but wonder how my various classmates' opinions have changed as a result of the last training exercise. More specifically, I wonder if it's changed anything in how my friend's think of me. One way or another this is a military based society, how you perform in mission has a direct relation on how people think of you, that's just the way it is. It's how it worked with Sakumo's disgrace, and how it worked with Naruto's rise in popularity.

Granted this isn't likely to be nearly on that same scale but it is very likely to change people's opinions.

Steeling myself, I strode confidently into the room and took my seat. Pointedly ignoring the surrounding gossip.

"Have you sufficiently recovered?" Shino's voice pipes up next to me.

I'm not entirely sure what exactly he was trying to ask. Shino was occasionally a bit cryptic. I believe he was referring to the fact that last time he saw me I was emotionally distraught at my inability to help my team preform, and not just that, but I managed to make it look like I did so on purpose to try and benefit myself.

I very well might be the most unpopular person in the room.

What a relief for Naruto.

"Yeah, I'm good." I respond with a shrug. "Time now to recoup and do better next time."

Shino gives a slight grunt of agreement. "The grading system is certainly one that needs addressing in both team's next meeting."

Shino hesitates for a moment, causing me to turn towards him with searching look. Shino rarely hesitated. If he was already at the point that of speaking he usually had the entire conversation planned in his head. He only hesitated when he was attempting to say something deeper that the words he was going to use would convey.

"The after-action report was…curious." He finally says.

Ah.

That.

"It was. Mine didn't seem to have too much to do with how well as I did or how I could do better." I stated lightly moving my head so I was giving him a side-long glance.

"Yes. Mine was more focused on my thought process and why I choose to do something one thing rather than another. How I felt on my teammates performance was also notably questioned after."

"Same with me."

"It's almost as if they were building a psychological profile on us." Shino said as he adjusted his glasses.

Oh.

That's an interesting theory. Ninja's home villages did keep psych profiles on their ninjas.

Granted the profiles had very little to do with their mental health and was more aimed to predicting behaviors in certain stress situations, weaknesses and strengths. Now would be an opportune time to do it. That might be what that whole thing was about.

"You're right. It was similar. Though during my interview Iruka seemed to…not be himself."

Shino's brow lowered in thought, "Truly? He seemed perfectly like himself when he interviewed me."

I am pretty sure still that my interviewer wasn't Iruka, however what that means is pretty much in the air. It could mean that Iruka was among the people giving the interviews and Shino actually got him. It could mean that Shino was more oblivious in his interview, which I doubted. It could mean his person wasn't so blatantly obvious about the fact that they weren't Iruka. Or it's something else I hadn't considered.

"When did your interview start?" I asked Shino.

"About seven minutes after yours." Shino replied.

"Really?" I asked, a victorious grin blossoming, "Because my interview with Iruka lasted at least ten minutes."

Shino leaned forward on the desk, hands steeped together in front him. "Curious."

"Curious indeed." I agreed.

"Thank you all for agreeing to meet with me today." I state, doing my best to project my voice out among the crowd. Gathering the entirety of my team had been about as difficult as herding cats but I finally managed to get everyone to show with with a bribery of pocky. It once again hit home to me that these were a bunch of eleven year-olds that I was leading, military training or not that made things a tad difficult. But it was for that very reason I needed to do this that much more.

"I know things didn't go exactly how many of you envisioned them in the last match. For which I take full responsibility. This is my first time leading and it showed. I apologize for my failure." I stated with a quick bow.

It didn't take me long to decide on this course of action; taking the full blame and being upfront with a apology was the fastest way to get things done. I probably could have shifted all of the blame on Naruto, but I figure the kid already has enough problems.

"I didn't call this meeting just to apologize though. I want all of us to come together and make more battle plans and make sure everyone understands their roll and purpose in the team."

"You mean you are going to make all the decisions and we will just have to live with whatever the Great Daisuke decides." Ino stated, arms crossed and a sour look on her face.

Yesh. Who spit in her stew?

"I plan on getting feedback from everyone and trying to get everyone in a roll they will be happy in but...yeah. What I decide. I didn't ask for the position but I'm the leader here. What I end up deciding goes. Just like with any leader we will have in our future careers."

There was no point beating around the bush, I would work with them as much as I could but they also had to understand that what I ended up ordering would be final. There is no way I can make everyone in the group completely happy with their role, not everyone could be the linchpin role that decides the match.

"Right. And those positions will just so happen to have you end up with getting the most points in the team. Again." Ino combated.

That...was surprisingly hostile. What did I do to her?

Something must have crossed my face when she said that, since for a second there she looked to regret what she said before once again standing defiant.

Ino was one of those ones that doubles down on their argument and in the heat of the moment won't back off on it until her point is made. Though she was also pretty good and apologizing later too when she's calmed down.

"Daisuke didn't intend it that way!" Sakura piped up, "The two of us planned everything and the entire time we always talked about how to make sure that everyone would have a chance of getting a good score. It was one of the things he most focus on in planning. You saw how he reacted in the class when the points were posted. Daisuke isn't that good of an actor."

"Yeah! Daisuke isn't the kinda guy who can just fake something like that!" Naruto yells.

I'm not? Damn I need to work on that, since my life will probably depend on that at some point. Though having a reputation for not being able to lie convincingly has its own advantages.

Ino looks like she is going to give a biting retort when I stepped in, "If you want to make sure it's done right then this is your chance. You can work with us in planning. Hear my reasoning on everything and make your own voice heard. Or don't. Either way, we need to move on. Past is set but the future isn't decided yet, and I fully intend to make sure we win the next match."

Ino takes a moment to size me up, looking uncertain. "What did you have in mind?"

By and large, people don't like hospitals, something lots of literary works like to bring up like its a unique feature of a character. When, in fact, it's more rare when someone actually enjoys being in one. It was completely understandable though, hospitals are where you go when you don't feel well, it's where you receive bad news...and it's where most people die. That's not even getting into the bad food, boring lifestyle, and funny smells.

Thus I can understand my mother's surprise when I said that I wanted to come with her to the hospital.

"Daisuke-chan, you really didn't have to come with me." She said, turning slightly in her wheelchair to address me. "I'm just going to be doing a quick touch up on some of the seals here that need a little attention."

"I know." I stated simply, "But I figured I'd go with you. Plus I plan on taking some of the first-aid classes that they offer."

First aid isn't something really gone over in the Academy for some bizarre reason. A fact that will likely change if Tsunade ever becomes the Hokage, but in the meantime its just a free course offered at the hospital for ninja's in training. It wasn't a full on medical training and didn't really teach any chakra techniques.

"Oh? Thinking of becoming a medic-nin or full on doctor?" Mom asked.

"No. I don't think I'm cut out for that. I just don't want to be a super amazing ninja that completes near impossible tasks...then die because I doesn't know how to tie a tourniquet. It would be unmanly."

"Is that so?"

"Oh yes."

"And you are always so concerned on appearing manly."

My eyes narrow slightly. She wouldn't bring up the tea party incident in public would she? No...no I don't think she would.

"Well you know, I am eleven now, puberty just around the corner. Stupid male posturing is an obligation."

"An obligation is it? Well then don't let me stand in your way. Please, go take your incredibly manly first aid class."

I release a short guffaw before leaning over and giving Mom a quick half hug. "Okay, thanks mom. If you finish up before I'm done just head home."

"Okay. Same goes for you. Go and learn something."

I give her a nod before walking over to the receptionist and ask for directions. A short walk later has me walking into what looked like a meeting room. The room seemed to be completely empty except for silver-haired youth near the front where a white board was, he turned around showing a young optimistic looking face that sported a pair of rounded glasses. Wait...I think I know who this is...aw hell, he matches the description I remember for-

"Ah. You appear to be the only student today. I'm Yakushi Kabuto and I'll be teaching your first-aid class today." He said with a smile, "I hope we can get along together."

"Yeah...me too." I stated calmly.

"Please, come in and have a seat. No need to be nervous." Said the sadistic aspiring mad scientist.

Now that wasn't complete fair. Kabuto had one of the most understandable falls to the dark side. He was very involved in the spy game and was on so many sides he wasn't even sure what side he was on anymore. They even showed that when the whole Sasuke thing went down Kabuto did struggle for a little while with the idea of betraying Orochimaru. Technically speaking he has probably only followed Danzo's orders thus far since he hasn't been "disappeared" by Root.

That and he's really great at reading people and _apparently_ I can't act so time to suck it up and give him a reason to think I'm actually as nervous as I am.

"Oh. Yeah. Um...is there really just me in this class?" I asked.

"Yes. It appears it will just be you and me. You are the only one that signed up for this round of classes, so they assigned me. Sorry you couldn't get someone more qualified, but we'll work hard together, okay?" Said the guy who might be the best medical mind in Konoha right now.

Damn he is good. He has the meek and humble act _down_.

"Well the individual attention will be helpful for me. I'm not the best at memorization." I say, as I stuff my hands into the pockets of my coat and hope he doesn't notice the shaking.

"No need to worry Daisuke-kun. You aren't expected to know all of how the body works. This is just basic first-aid, you don't need to know nearly as much medical jargon and procedures as a real medical position."

"Well then," I say as I bow low at the waist, facing the floor, completely taking my eyes off of him, "I look forward to your help."

"The pleasure will be mine, Daisuke-kun."

Several days passed since my first lesson with Kabuto and I'm not yet dead, so that's good. Either he didn't notice anything too out of the ordinary or he just decided that it wasn't anything he had to worry about.

That or he's been spying on me for the last several days...which was entirely plausible.

Note to self, invest in finding a technique that lets me sense people.

Outside that classes have continued as normal, and I've actually started working on making my first tanto. The process is surprisingly different from making kunai. I'm also so close to being able to make exploding tags now that I can practically _taste_ it.

The fact I haven't made it yet taunts my dreams.

I'd mostly managed to get so much done over the last few days because of one reason. I was avoiding manning up and going to talk to Ino. It had to be done. Our team needed to be a team, and that couldn't be done if a third of the team doubted me. So, today, after class, I sucked it up and found my way to the Yamanaka flower shop.

The shop was...quaint. It looked basically like any other cute little flower shop I'd seen, both in this life and the last. Well...not quite the same. I haven't seen another have numerous poisonous plants visible behind a glass display.

The bell above the door gave cute little jingle as I walked inside, my weight causing a slight squeaking on the floorboards as I walked in.

"Welcome!" A voice called from the back, soon revealing itself to be Yamanaka Inoichi himself. "What can I do for you?"

"Yes, I was hoping I could speak with Ino. Is she here?"

A sly smirk spread across his face, "Oh my! What's this? My beautiful daughter is getting her first male caller? Coming to woo her away from her greatest love to her beloved Sasuke?"

That was a bit more enthusiastic than I expected from him, "Um...no."

"Relax. I'm just yanking your chain." Inoichi said with a wave of his hand, "It's a father's job to embarrass his daughter and her friends."

"No Dad. It's not." Ino said as she came from the backroom, a dirt stained work apron hanging from around her neck and small blonde boy's hand held in her hand. Said boy was yanking on his to try and get it out of his sister's grasp. "It is however your job to watch Ichiro instead of letting letting him play with the fertilizer containers. Again."

Ah. Ichiro. Ino's little brother and possible evidence that I've already mucked up the timeline. Maybe. I really can't say for sure though since it's entirely possible that he just wasn't mentioned in series because he wasn't important. He always left me wondering if his presence would have a big impact on things.

Inoichi heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I'll go clean it up. Watch the shop for me in the meantime. Oh, and Ichiro."

Inoichi's entire posture seemed to change as voice took on a tone of menace, "Go to your room _now_ and do not come out until I tell you to."

Damn.

That made me want to run to my room and it wasn't even directed at me. The little paradox also seemed to take the hint and disappeared.

"Play nice you two!" Inoichi shouted as he left to the backroom. No sooner had he left that Ino's glare landed on me.

"What do you want Daisuke?"

Great to see us get off on a high note.

"We need to talk. You don't like me. I understand that. I can live with that. Some people just don't get along. But this seems stronger than that. It's like...Like I did something to insult you and for the life of me I can't figure out what it is?"

Ino's eyebrow rose, "Seriously? You really don't know?"

"Nope. No idea." I say with a shrug.

Ino lets out a huff of frustration before turning to me. "It's how you look at me. At us. Your classmates, your friends. Everyone our age."

What?

I blink a few times, "I'm going to need you to explain that a bit more."

"You treat us like children!" She finally shouted.

And I could just barely stop myself from saying 'But you are children'.

And wasn't that just the problem. I had the body of the child, even acted pretty childish, but...I don't really think of myself as a child.

"You think you are better than us but your not! Sure you fight pretty well and you are good at math but you're pretty much in the middle of the class!"

I...I'm not sure what to do about that. I can't not think of them as kids and I can't make me think of myself as a child. Though something was bothering me about what she said.

"You don't like me because you think I think I'm better than you...but you have a crush on Sasuke?"

"That's different. Sasuke-kun _is_ better than us. Plus he treats everyone that way. Not just our class."

...okay fair.

"Look. I'm sorry. I don't think I have anymore...value than you or anyone else. I don't know how to fix this. But we need to work together. Regardless of your feelings about me, this is suppose to be like our missions once we start them. Personal feelings can't get in the way here. Not just for our sake, but all of our team. Try to get along with me, and I'll try not to be at all condescending. Okay?"

Ino's eyes narrowed..."Fine. I'll try not to be as vocal. But this doesn't make us friends, understand?"

"I wouldn't dream of it Ino."

Well that was...less painful than it could have been.

"It's good you managed to get Yamanaka-san to agree to being less disruptive." Kabuto stated before reaching down to slip a finger under the bandage I was wrapping around an old mannequin arm. "You'll need to wrap it tighter than that. A good indicator is being unable to slip anything underneath the bandage without it tearing."

"Yes sir." I stated simply before unwrapping the fake arm to begin wrapping again. The first-aid program so far was going really well. I had already learned quite a few things that might save the life of a teammate in the future. Kabuto was an effective teacher as well as just being damn likable. I often left lessons with him with a little skip in my step and feeling positive. Which, about an hour later, I'd then have to remind myself that he was a dangerous jounin that specialized in espionage and is probably grooming me to be an asset of his in some way.

That said, even if he did betray Konoha as he had in the story I read a lifetime ago, I'd still probably like the guy. He was patient and he was clever, two things I appreciated in all my friends, and while he was a bit of a monster, it was a monster of Danzo's making which was then exacerbated by Orochimaru. Even beneath that he still didn't seem quite sure who's side he would stay on until after Tsunade became Hokage. He very well could have been kept as a great asset for Konoha but after so long undercover Kabuto wasn't even sure who Kabuto was anymore.

At least, that's how it came across to me in the story. Hell if I know if it's accurate.

"Excellent!" came Kabuto's calming tone, "Now the same principle's for the arms also apply for the torso but the wrapping is a bit trickier, especially since tightly wrapping the wound isn't always the best decision."

"Right." I said nodding, "There are a lot of important and easily damaged things in the torso. So what do I do in that event? Cauterize the wound?"

Kabuto shook his head, "Only do something like that in the most desperate of circumstances, like if a major artery is cut and you can't stop the bleeding. The wound for a cauterization is preferable to death, but only just. Cauterization will leave a nasty scar and if you are ever unlucky enough to have to use it on a patient you will want to make sure that you give your patient a sedative."

"Of course. To numb the pain." I stated simply, "But isn't that also a risk in a situation where they are low on blood?"

Kabuto gave another nod, "It is always risky to administer a sedative, even with a fully conscious person, but when it comes to cauterizing you run into another big risk. A wound of the mind."

A wound of the mind? "Huh? From cauterization?"

Kabuto nodded solemnly, "Daisuke-kun. Imagine it. You are already greatly injured. You've lost a lot of blood. It's hard to think. And then one of your teammates, one of the people you trust with your life, holds you down forcibly and sets a part of you on fire and gives you even more pain."

Oh.

Oh hell, yeah, that does sound like a recipe for major PTSD.

"Right. Okay, administer the sedative before doing that. Check."

"Most of the time you'd have to do it anyways will usually be on the arms or legs." Kabuto stated briefly with a slight gesture towards the two appendages mentioned. "And if you do so, it will likely result in the limb being lost."

Wait...my mother?

Could she have had her leg cauterized?

I try to think back to the two or three different times I'd actually managed to see the skin where her leg was severed. My mother almost always kept it wrapped or covered but...from what I remember. I think...I think she did have burn scars there.

That realization made my heart rate spike and I felt a cold wave spread over my chest, the signs the back of my mind categorized as a rush of adrenaline. My forebrain told it to shut up though because it was freaking out. Mom. My mother. The kind and patient woman who fed me, taught me seals, and spent hours making sure I could read and write as well as my peers. That this same woman had experience the pain of losing her leg and having to have a teammate hold her down and burn the flesh shut. That this woman that I owed so much could have PTSD as a result of the event.

The thought broke my heart a little.

It also brought another thought to mind as well.

"Hey. Kabuto-sempai, do we have mind healers for things like that?" I asked.

A look of surprise crossed Kabuto's face. It seemed entirely like genuine shock to me, but that didn't really mean anything. For all I know Kabuto had been planning to have this exact conversation before I ever entered the room.

"Well we do have them for doing things like filtering out foreign chakra, disrupting deep planted genjutsu, and some techniques for stimulating certain parts of the brain, but those are all considered very high level techniques. I don't even think there is someone in Konoha who can do that last one safely. But for the trauma itself it's generally considered the job of the family and friends of the afflicted person to treat. There isn't much a medical doctor could do."

Damn it.

I had always feared that.

These damned ninja wizards that deploy children soldiers _don't have therapists! _I could even see how this would have come about! At the start of Konoha and the rest of the villages the clans would all have been scared about losing secrets to other, so their reaction to therapy would be "the clan should handle it". Meaning that the only people that could possibly have done anything with that would be...

"What about the Yamanaka? They wouldn't have anything to help such patients out."

"From burn trauma?" Kabuto asked.

"No. Well, yes. I mean from all...mental trauma. The life of the shinobi is harsh and difficult. It seems kind of dumb to loose people to that trauma. Especially since the ones most likely to be disabled by it are the most important soldiers. The ones regularly involved in combat and espionage."

"To my knowledge, the Yamanaka just have techniques used to invade a mind or take information. Things only done to enemies, and certainly not ones allies."

"Yeah but...this like something that could help. Heck, certain softer ways we use to manipulate prisoners and targets could be helpful too I think. Like...like how all poison is medicine and all medicine is poison. It's just...how you use it."

Kabuto stared at me for a long moment. Longer than I've ever seen him take to react to something.

I'm given him something he didn't expect. He was processing.

I'm...not sure that's good.

"And...you think that these methods could be used to help those in mental distress? Like combat veterans or infiltration operatives."

"I mean, I'm not exactly a expert. But...if studied enough...I think it could help not just them, but also civilians and medics and...anyone who needs a wound of the mind...of the heart to be healed."

"An interesting thought." Kabuto said looking at me with an unreadable expression, "Very interesting."

Finally Kabuto seems to come to himself, "But that's not what we are here for. What you want to do when wrapping the torso is start here, under the armpit."

I turned to look at the lesson.

But...that...that might have been the biggest ripple I've made in cannon yet. If I could help Kabuto connect with himself, and realize what he realized later in the manga series. That his identity is what he chooses it to be and that he can be the good person he wanted to be. I might could get through to him but it was a dangerous game. Kabuto right now...well the Kabuto right now had more identity issues that a schizophrenic chameleon with a mood ring in a skittles factory.

Though I don't know I can get through to him. I've...never changed someones life like that before.

I mean...I'm no Naruto.

Thank God I'm not Naruto.

I decided, to build teamwork, to try doing something of an after school study session with my team for the mock battles after school. To help people get better in their areas of weakness. And watching Naruto was just _painful_.

He ran straight at me across an open field, arm cocked back in an obvious right hook _while he was still ten feet from me_.

My hands were in front of me in something of a boxers stance. Naruto let out a war cry. My left flashed out in quick left straight that I threw out quickly and mostly just let his face run into my fist. The next moment Naruto's back hit the ground.

"Okay Naruto. That was...a good effort. Now, what do you think could have made that work better?" I asked as I reached out a hand to help him up.

"I should have hit you faster!" Naruto groused.

Well...he wasn't _wrong_.

"Right good. So how exactly would you hit me faster?"

"Uhhhhhhhh." Naruto answered, "Go...train...more?"

It took immense willpower to _not_ slap my palm against my forehead.

"Yes. Training can help improve your speed. But I think we can do some things a bit more immediately."

I had to be careful. I couldn't come across as if I'm talking down to how he does things or he'd just not listen out of stubbornness.

Hmmm...

Got it!

I cock my arm back like he had been doing a moment before. "Okay, when I'm doing this, what does it look like I'm about to do?"

"Smash someone's face in from the side." Naruto said with a smile.

"Sure. If it hits it can do that. Now watch." I swung the punch several times, putting a great amount of force behind it. "Now watch this." I say before letting out a few of my best left straights, my sleeve actually popping like a whip from the motion's precise and quick motion.

"Now which was faster?" I asked.

"The second one." Naruto said with a shrug.

"Exactly. Because it has less distance to travel. After all its faster to walk through a field than walk around right?"

Naruto's face scrunched up as he made humming noises before going "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But the first one hits harder!"

"Yes, that is true, it hits harder. But tell me this. What am I about to do?" I ask as I get in the stance that Naruto had adopted in our spar, arm cocked up beside me.

"You're about to throw that punch. Duh."

My eye twitched.

"Yes. Exactly. Now what am I going to do?" I ask as I get into my boxers stance.

"Ummmmm. Throw the one straight punch?" Naruto asked.

I proceeded to throw several different combinations of punches running through a list in my head before ending a combo with the haymaker punch Naruto so wanted to throw.

"See? It's harder to tell what I'm going to do. You can even still use your big punch, but you don't want to put your arm there until exactly when you are going to throw the punch. Otherwise it's like...it's like janken. When you run at someone with your arm cocked back like that it's like you are about to play Janken while yelling that you are going to throw Jan. The person will see it coming and act against it."

Oh thank the Lord. I could see the light-bulb click in his rock-hard little head.

"Ooooh. It's like a prank! I can't make the prank too obvious or no one is going to fall for it!"

Well...sorta...I'll take it.

"Right! Exactly. You aren't just fighting your enemy physically, but mentally too. It's the hit that they _don't_ see coming that takes them out. So you wanna try again?"

"Yeah!" Naruto shouts as he bounces away and takes his ready pose.

This is good! Improving his basics now will give him a big leg up later, as the basics were what he struggled with for so long in the series. It was the complex stuff that he cobbled up like candy.

I give my ready response, crouch and...

Naruto runs at me...and after three steps cocks back for a haymacker.

Fucking dammit!

My left straight again lays him on his ass.

"Naruto? What the hell?"

"Sorry. Habit." Naurto said weakly scratching his head.

"Habit? Where have you done that enough for it to be a habit?"

"Taijutsu training!"

"I haven't seen you do that enough in class for it to be habit." I said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Well not in class. In private."

I pinch the ridge of my nose, "And how, exactly, have you been training in private."

"I beat up a training dummy of Sasu-eeeerrr off an enemy nin."

Are you kidding me?

He's been hanging up a dummy...and flinging himself at it falling around and grading how well he's doing by how far back the dummy flew. No wonder he had so many bad habits.

"Naruto..._please_ don't do that anymore."

"Well how **else** am I going to get better at taijustu?"

"Have you perhaps considered doing what our instructors suggested?"

"Psht. Of course I have! I do that all the time. Now just to...make sure you are training right...what would that training be exactly?"

The fact that I did not punch him in the face for that should really really show that I'm a paragon of patience and virtue.

But it was a close one.


End file.
